An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media

Dion Hoe Lian Goh; Alton Y.K. Chua; Hanyu Shi; Wenju Wei; Haiyan Wang; Ee Peng Lim

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70232-2_22

An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media

Dion Hoe Lian Goh^*, Alton Y.K. Chua, Hanyu Shi, Wenju Wei, Haiyan Wang, Ee Peng Lim

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Social media platforms are one of the fastest ways to disseminate information but they have also been used as a means to spread rumors. If left unchecked, rumors have serious consequences. Counter-rumors, messages used to refute rumors, are an important means of rumor curtailment. The objective of this paper is to examine the types of rumor and counter-rumor messages generated in Twitter in response to the falsely reported death of a politician, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s first Prime Minister. Our content analysis of 4321Twitter tweets about Lee’s death revealed six categories of rumor messages, four categories of counter-rumor messages and two categories belonging to neither type. Interestingly, there were more counter-rumor messages than rumor messages. Our results thus suggest that, at least in the context of our study, online users do make an attempt to stop the spread of false rumors through counter-rumors.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Digital Libraries
Subtitle of host publication	Data, Information, and Knowledge for Digital Lives - 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017, Proceedings
Editors	Sally Jo Cunningham, Songphan Choemprayong, Fabio Crestani
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Pages	256-266
Number of pages	11
ISBN (Print)	9783319702315
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70232-2_22
Publication status	Published - 2017
Externally published	Yes
Event	19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017 - Bangkok, Thailand Duration: Nov 13 2017 → Nov 15 2017

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	10647 LNCS
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017
Country/Territory	Thailand
City	Bangkok
Period	11/13/17 → 11/15/17

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer International Publishing AG.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Theoretical Computer Science
General Computer Science

Keywords

Content analysis
Counter rumor
Death hoax
Rumor correction
Social media
Twitter

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-319-70232-2_22

Cite this

Goh, D. H. L., Chua, A. Y. K., Shi, H., Wei, W., Wang, H., & Lim, E. P. (2017). An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media. In S. J. Cunningham, S. Choemprayong, & F. Crestani (Eds.), Digital Libraries: Data, Information, and Knowledge for Digital Lives - 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017, Proceedings (pp. 256-266). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 10647 LNCS). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70232-2_22

Goh, Dion Hoe Lian ; Chua, Alton Y.K. ; Shi, Hanyu et al. / An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media. Digital Libraries: Data, Information, and Knowledge for Digital Lives - 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017, Proceedings. editor / Sally Jo Cunningham ; Songphan Choemprayong ; Fabio Crestani. Springer Verlag, 2017. pp. 256-266 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

@inproceedings{77c62c03642b42b393697eb2a92d3b5c,

title = "An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media",

abstract = "Social media platforms are one of the fastest ways to disseminate information but they have also been used as a means to spread rumors. If left unchecked, rumors have serious consequences. Counter-rumors, messages used to refute rumors, are an important means of rumor curtailment. The objective of this paper is to examine the types of rumor and counter-rumor messages generated in Twitter in response to the falsely reported death of a politician, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore{\textquoteright}s first Prime Minister. Our content analysis of 4321Twitter tweets about Lee{\textquoteright}s death revealed six categories of rumor messages, four categories of counter-rumor messages and two categories belonging to neither type. Interestingly, there were more counter-rumor messages than rumor messages. Our results thus suggest that, at least in the context of our study, online users do make an attempt to stop the spread of false rumors through counter-rumors.",

keywords = "Content analysis, Counter rumor, Death hoax, Rumor correction, Social media, Twitter",

author = "Goh, {Dion Hoe Lian} and Chua, {Alton Y.K.} and Hanyu Shi and Wenju Wei and Haiyan Wang and Lim, {Ee Peng}",

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Goh, DHL , Chua, AYK, Shi, H, Wei, W, Wang, H & Lim, EP 2017, An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media. in SJ Cunningham, S Choemprayong & F Crestani (eds), Digital Libraries: Data, Information, and Knowledge for Digital Lives - 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 10647 LNCS, Springer Verlag, pp. 256-266, 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017, Bangkok, Thailand, 11/13/17. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70232-2_22

An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media. / Goh, Dion Hoe Lian ; Chua, Alton Y.K.; Shi, Hanyu et al.
Digital Libraries: Data, Information, and Knowledge for Digital Lives - 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017, Proceedings. ed. / Sally Jo Cunningham; Songphan Choemprayong; Fabio Crestani. Springer Verlag, 2017. p. 256-266 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 10647 LNCS).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media

AU - Goh, Dion Hoe Lian

AU - Chua, Alton Y.K.

AU - Shi, Hanyu

AU - Wei, Wenju

AU - Wang, Haiyan

AU - Lim, Ee Peng

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Social media platforms are one of the fastest ways to disseminate information but they have also been used as a means to spread rumors. If left unchecked, rumors have serious consequences. Counter-rumors, messages used to refute rumors, are an important means of rumor curtailment. The objective of this paper is to examine the types of rumor and counter-rumor messages generated in Twitter in response to the falsely reported death of a politician, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s first Prime Minister. Our content analysis of 4321Twitter tweets about Lee’s death revealed six categories of rumor messages, four categories of counter-rumor messages and two categories belonging to neither type. Interestingly, there were more counter-rumor messages than rumor messages. Our results thus suggest that, at least in the context of our study, online users do make an attempt to stop the spread of false rumors through counter-rumors.

AB - Social media platforms are one of the fastest ways to disseminate information but they have also been used as a means to spread rumors. If left unchecked, rumors have serious consequences. Counter-rumors, messages used to refute rumors, are an important means of rumor curtailment. The objective of this paper is to examine the types of rumor and counter-rumor messages generated in Twitter in response to the falsely reported death of a politician, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s first Prime Minister. Our content analysis of 4321Twitter tweets about Lee’s death revealed six categories of rumor messages, four categories of counter-rumor messages and two categories belonging to neither type. Interestingly, there were more counter-rumor messages than rumor messages. Our results thus suggest that, at least in the context of our study, online users do make an attempt to stop the spread of false rumors through counter-rumors.

KW - Content analysis

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KW - Death hoax

KW - Rumor correction

KW - Social media

KW - Twitter

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DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-70232-2_22

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SN - 9783319702315

T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)

SP - 256

EP - 266

BT - Digital Libraries

A2 - Cunningham, Sally Jo

A2 - Choemprayong, Songphan

A2 - Crestani, Fabio

PB - Springer Verlag

T2 - 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017

Y2 - 13 November 2017 through 15 November 2017

ER -

Goh DHL , Chua AYK, Shi H, Wei W, Wang H, Lim EP. An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media. In Cunningham SJ, Choemprayong S, Crestani F, editors, Digital Libraries: Data, Information, and Knowledge for Digital Lives - 19th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2017, Proceedings. Springer Verlag. 2017. p. 256-266. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-70232-2_22

An analysis of rumor and counter-rumor messages in social media

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this