Large data processing tells you: Why is there so much rumor about the loss of the alliance?

How's the plane? Where is the crash site? What did the search and rescue find? 60 hours, more than 6.96 million Weibo, why nearly 10 versions of rumors widely circulated? 5 inaccurate information, why is it concentrated in the 4-hour outbreak? "Rumor Move Mouth", forwarding thousands; "Correct run broken leg", why only thousands of? Xinhua News agency New Media Center United Wuhan University internet Science Research Center, with large data analysis to tell you, MA Airlines, why the incident, why speculation, rumors so much.

Don't publish information without new information?

"Rui read" 4 hours 0 update information VS5 big rumors

"Rui Analysis" Xinhua Association of Wuhan University Internet Science Research Center through the analysis of large data found that the 10:30-14:30 incident, 5 widely circulated rumors, are concentrated in the 8th of the 4-hour period.

Why is that?

It's not hard to tell the answer to the timing of Malaysia's official announcement. 8th 10:30, the MA Airlines official website issued a third statement to correct the number of passengers and the distribution of information, and so on until 14:30 its official website again sound, stating that there is no exact location of the aircraft information. It is precisely this 4-hour message "silent" period, many rumors are rife.

Xiaolin, founder and president of the Yonhap Association, said that the aircraft is a major event, affecting the hearts of the world. So many rumors, reflecting people's thirst for information. The absence of the official voice of MA Airlines provides space for inaccurate information and rumours. At the same time, these information about the whereabouts of the flight or passenger safety, with the majority of users in the heart of "good expectations", and therefore widely disseminated.

Professor Wang Junshu of the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, noted that at a time when global attention was being paid to the survival of the associated flight and crew, the number of fans of the Sina Weibo account in Malaysia was only about 110,000 by 12th. He believed that, in addition to Ma Airlines did not make effective promotion of the account, or netizens did not actively search and attention to outside, netizens browse to its update speed is not satisfied with the rush to leave is also an important reason.

The official microblogging account of Malaysian Airlines updated a microblog on 9th 19:01, which reads: We will update the search and rescue team's latest progress in search and rescue work in the first time. But in fact, it was not until 14:03 10th that Malaysia Airlines updated the microblog again. And this "space" in the near 19 hours, the field of public opinion has been flooded with rumors, speculation.

"Sharp questions" have netizens asked: if there is no latest news, how to publish updated information?

"Sharp reply" "You can understand that the practice of Malaysia is based on rigorous considerations, but such a response, there is a big flaw." "said Professor Guoming, director of the Institute of Public Opinion at Renmin University.

Chang, a scholar of journalism at Renmin University of China, also believes that even if there is no updated news, the news should be released at a higher frequency in order to compress the spread of rumors, maintain the stability of the audience and avoid the spread of panic. ”

And guoming further points out that even if the result information is not clear, should continue to convey the search and rescue process and supporting information, process information, including search and rescue process, and so on, supporting information, including the opening of the Platform for information dissemination, and for the family, MA Airlines should have more timely information dissemination channels.

Rumor moves, correct run broken leg?

"Sharp number read" 8th 25 VS9 days 67;

"Sharp analysis" "plane landed in Nanning?" "Was the plane really found at sea and not disintegrated?" "Until more than 60 hours after the incident, micro-blogs and micro-letters still spread the information that has long been corrected or even clarified."

Large data statistics revealed that the main rumours were generated before 14:30 on 8th and were largely clarified within 3 hours of the issue.

But the data provided by the Sina Community Management Center show that the spread of false information has not stopped because of clarification. On the contrary, compared with the 25 false information of 8th, the amount of false information detected on 9th did not fall back to 67, and the main content was "Vietnam news agency reported that the aircraft had not disintegrated".

An example of the dissemination of a message in a domestic media 8th 13:34. The message was quoted by the Vietnamese military personage as saying that the plane had crashed 153 nautical miles in the province's island of Turkey, the border of Vietnam's Malay waters, and the Vietnamese rescue team had set out. Later, Reuters and other media released news that the company denied the flight crashed information. But to 10th 12:37, the media of this microblogging has been forwarded to 275,837 times, commented up to 58,659.

"Rumor moves, correct run broken leg"? Clearly, the incident to the rumours of the clarification of Weibo, the spread of the situation is not optimistic. According to the large data statistics of the Internet Science Research Center of Wuhan University, 6 important correction and clarification micro-blogs were combed, among which the number of forwarding and comments was only 3,569 and 1885 respectively.

"Sharp questions" have netizens ask: why does it seem that everyone's interest in clarifying is not as high as the spread? If this is the case, will rumors have a lasting impact?

"Rui reply" Chang that, rumors can be in the public most anxious moment quickly give "explanation", is the fast-food surface information, so spread faster, and clarification to mobilize rational critical thinking, and to have enough authoritative elements to succeed. The social platform reinforces this propagation attribute.

"The rise of micro-letters is another factor. "said Shenyang, a professor of information management at Wuhan University," in the open social media such as Weibo, the false message can be diluted by the continuous flow of information, but in the relatively closed micro-trust friends Circle, the trust among friends is high, spread faster, more difficult to eliminate the impact, so the micro-trust users should be carefully forwarded. ”

Fast or accurate?

"Rui number read" 60 hours, more than 6.96 million micro-blog, nearly 10 versions circulated widespread rumors vs not blindly grab the hair to win 40.79 million exposure

"Sharp View" since 8th 2:40 MH370 flight last report location of 60 hours, Sina Weibo, the number of related micro-blog as many as 6.96 million.

When the truth of unexpected events is confusing, the new media accounts of traditional media are all singular strokes, which are reported by many ways, such as the transfer of foreign mediums. But there have been some missteps in the process of citing international media reports, such as an evening news official who said the airline's spokesman had "speculated" that the flight had been mistakenly "confirmed" as "landed in Vietnam" and issued false information, after correction.

It is noteworthy that some media have chosen to verify the source of information, and there is no preemptive prescription, but because the reported information authority accurate but get the public affirmation. CCTV news channel, for example, has been breaking news about the incident at a high frequency on the same day. Despite the absence of the latest news, repeated the same, verified situation, but also conducive to the clarification of rumours; The Beijing News, the South du Weekly and other media microblogging account also through multiple verification, calm sober, timely clarification of rumors.

So there's no influence if you don't grab your hair? According to the Internet Science Research Center of Wuhan University statistics, with the @ Xinhua News agency China Network as an example, although it did not blindly rob the foreign media message, but the exclusive direct hit of the Chinese warship to the incident waters to trigger the attention of netizens, including many Big V have forwarded, the total exposure over 40.79 million people. Online users @ mu-bo comments said: "Ma Airlines incident, contrast several micro-blog performance, @ Xinhua News agency, the best in China, calm and accurate not rash." It is also noteworthy that Oriental TV on 9th temporarily decided to cancel the evening entertainment, rolling broadcast the latest news of the aircraft.

"Sharp question" media in the report of unexpected events, the fast or accurate?

"Sharp reply" has more than 5 years abroad reporters experience Xiaolin think should be balanced. He admits that this is a dilemma, and that the actual operation depends on the speed and details which are more important. In addition, this is related to the "dynamic reality" in the news communication.

The number of deaths reported by the media at the time of the terrorist attacks in the United States was 30,000, he said, and the exact result was that as the events progressed, there was no need to blame the media.

Chang: It is not uncommon for the media to have inaccurate information when a major incident occurs. such as the United States television news field, usually has "reported that, with the report with the change" style, that is, first rob the prescription, even if the details of distortion, and then at any time according to the new news rolling supplementary reports, and constantly revise the previous report of the problem.

"In the face of such high-profile emergencies, it is normal for the media to fail." "Guoming also believes that, however, there is a normative responsibility, who publishes inaccurate information and who should be responsible for timely corrections within the same range of communication." At the same time, traditional media should strengthen the training of the quality of new media operators, such as whether can find more than two independent information sources and other aspects of identification information.

Wang Junshu that: "Some clients in order to be able to win in the news competition in the whole media era, only in time, synchronous dissemination of information, and ignore the authenticity, authority and credibility." This is actually the core value of the traditional media brand that it relies on. ”