Reconstruction of the Public Sphere in the Socially Mediated Age by Kaoru Endo Satoshi Kurihara Takashi Kamihigashi & Fujio Toriumi

Author:Kaoru Endo, Satoshi Kurihara, Takashi Kamihigashi & Fujio Toriumi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Singapore, Singapore

II.It is possible to share and spread information originating from other users to friends on social media.

III.There is no time lag in exchanging information on social media, and it is possible for users to communicate in real time with each other.

With these features, information on social media is sometimes spread on a large scale and rapidly.

Social media has provided an important place for gathering information and communicating, not only in everyday life but also in emergency situations like disasters. For example, in the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in March of 2011, information on evacuations and on disaster areas was sent from social media even in situations where telephones were not in service. As a result, social media became recognized not only as a simple communication tool but also as an important source of information that can be used in emergencies (2011). Thus, it is expected that social media will be used as a useful information source even in the various disasters that may occur in the future. In fact, even in the Kumamoto earthquake that occurred in April of 2016, many people used social media for just this purpose.

While there are merits to social media, there are disadvantages as well. Therefore, we are required to be careful when using it. One disadvantage is that false rumors spread. We define a false rumor as “information that is later corrected, even though false information was not diffused deliberately (Weng et al. 2010).” Once a false rumor is spread on social media, it will be spread to a large number of people in an instant. In confusing situations, such as disasters, there are few ways to check the authenticity of information. Therefore, there is a possibility that secondary damage will be caused by false rumors, which is a big social problem. Examples of false rumors that spread during the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto earthquake are listed below.

1.A toxic substance attached to clouds by the explosion of Cosmo Oil falls with rain.

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