The dark side of social media: Fake tweets during Hurricane Sandy

As if the panic caused by Hurricane Sandy in New york was not enough, a Twitter user in the city tweeted a bunch of fake reports about the havoc caused by the storm. While some his reports were authentic, there were some that were absolute lies. The man who owns the Twitter account @ComfortablySmug was identified as Shashank Tripathi, a hedge fund analyst and campaign manager for a candidate for Congress, reported CNN. [caption id=“attachment_512991” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Getty Images[/caption] “BREAKING: Governor Cuomo is trapped in Manhattan. Has been taken to a secure shelter,” he said in one of his tweets. Another read, “BREAKING: Con Edison has begun shutting down all power in Manhattan.” The confusion caused by his tweets show that while social media can help deliver news to a lot of people really quick, it can also have severe consequences in situations of emergency. His tweet that the New York Stock Exchange had flooded, which was false, contributed to the confusion. Some news outlets, including CNN, briefly mentioned the NYSE flooding accounts after they were reported on the National Weather Service’s website, reports CNN. While his tweets did not see bad consequences, such tweets during emergencies can spur extreme reactions like riots or loot. This incident is an example of how important it is to be responsible about what information one puts out on social media, because information on social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook reaches millions of people within seconds. Tripathi later tweeted out an apology that linked to a longer note : https://twitter.com/ComfortablySmug/status/263466343360253952