The news started with a tweet from @ybbswc:
Tweet from @ybbswc
Shanghai metro has exploded? Please confirm.
Then retweeted:
Tweet from @xiao_su
Explosion!!!
@DavidFeng
A search in Twitter reveals the micro chatter of netizens on this topic:
Twitter chatter
Even the Chinese BBS and Weibo caught on the frenzy:
Weibo chatter
More Chinese micro chatter
Shanghai metro explosion? Rumor has it that it did. Heard it resulted from gas explosion. Another source.
But later it was confirmed that it was just a false alarm:
At 1.30pm June 25, a fire occurred at a construction site for a dormitory in Lujiazui, Pudong. The fire completely destroyed the 2-floor dormitory building. But no injuries were reported.
Xinmin.cn also released a confirmation on this incident with an exclusive video on what actually happened:
Some important points from this few hours of excitement–
- Spreading outrageous news is fun especially on the internet, but it is best to check facts first before creating a social media frenzy, because
- People do develop paranoia and conspiracy theories.
- However, this is also another manifestation of a person’s freedom of speech especially in Communist China.
What do you think?
Re: social media frenzies
It’s always quite surprising to me how much stock and trust is placed in net musings/rumours/opinions by netizens. Maybe foks get to excited about possibly ‘hearing it first’. That has always been my skepticism when pundits endlessly claim the ‘media revolution of Twitter’. I see it’s uses as an expression of speech and print freedoms, but I don’t see it as responsible journalism or quality news-breaking.
Could innate distrust of state-controlled media be partially responsible for the proliferation of unconfirmed layman-produced news utilizing social media mediums?
Hi Bryan,
You’re right about “hearing it first”. Many people are dependent on the Internet to get the news. In one way, it’s actually pretty efficient.
That’s a good point about connecting state-controlled media to the proliferation of unconfirmed layman-produced news. But I think with or without much control, these types of news will still come out. Have you heard of citizen’s watch? It’s like something like that.
You have to admit–social media is faster in getting information.