The role of credibility in viral communication

Box"13:"The"role"of"credibility"in"viral"communication" At"21.45"Eastern"Time"on"1st"May"2011"the"US"White"House"announced" that"President"Obama"would"be"addressing"the"nation"in"45"minutes"time."

Naturally,"rumors"rapidly"began"to"circulate,"attempting"to"guess"what"the" announcement"would"be"about."Two"theories"began"to"circulate,"that" either"Muammar"Gadafi,"former"ruler"of"Libya,"or"Osama"Bin"Laden"had" been"caught."However"neither"theory"gained"particular"traction"until"a" now"famous"tweet"by"Keith"Urbahn,"chief"of"staff"to"Donald"Rumsfeld,"38" minutes"after"the"news"conference"was"officially"announced."It"was"his" position,"visible"on"his"Twitter"profile"that"gave"him"the"credibility"to" overcome"the"rumours"and"initiate"one"of"the"bestZdocumented"viral" events"on"social"media."" "

" " Despite"only"having"1000"followers"on"Twitter,"after"one"minute,"there" had"been"80"reactions"(reZtweets"and"mentions),"and"this"reached"300" after"2"minutes."In"that"second"minute,"New"York"Times"reporter,"Brian" Stelter"tweeted,"“Chief(of(staff(former(defense(sec.(Rumsfeld,(@keithurbahn,( tweets:(‘I’m(told(by(a(reputable(person(they(have(killed(Osama(Bin(Laden.”" "

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Number(of(times(Keith(Urbahn’s(tweet(was(re9tweeted(

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" " Brian"Stelter"had"50,000"followers,"and"his"tweet"was"reZtweeted" hundreds"of"times"in"a"matter"of"minutes."TwentyZfour"minutes"after" Keith"Urbahn’s"original"tweet,"the"news"was"being"mentioned"on"Twitter" 30,000"timer"per"minute."What"is"particularly"interesting"about"this" example"is"that"many"others"were"guessing"correctly"before"Keith" Urbahn’s"tweet,"and"rumours"about"Colonel"Gadaffi"continued"to"circulate" without"ever"taking"off."The"key"reason"that"this"tweet"initiated"a"viral" information"event,"as"the"credibility"of"the"source.""" "

" " As"a"researcher,"if"you"link"to"your"institutional"webpage"and/or"mention" your"University"in"your"Twitter"profile,"you"instantly"have"credibility"in" the"eyes"of"the"average"Twitter"user"(whether"you"deserve"it"or"not)."This" means"that"your"voice"can"carry"weight"in"discussions"on"social"media." "

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