Spread of Misinformation and Twitter
I got a little wake up call last night. I got an email from someone I trust – and I have no reason not to trust this person but it became apparent to me in the end that this person had got their information elsewhere.
Here’s the email I got:
REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public next month.
REMINDER…. all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.
….. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.. It takes about 20 seconds.
My reason in sharing this is not to shame the person who sent it to me. I still appreciate her dearly and the bits of emails she sends.
What I do need to share is that I blindly accepted the information without doing my own little search first. So like the responsible citizen I am, I twittered it. I also posted it to avenuegirl.
Turns out this message is an urban legend and no, I won’t be getting a bunch of solicitors calling my cell phone. While this didn’t hurt anything to call and add my number, I had been given a wake up call.
All it took was a simple google search to see the rumor exposed. Someone on Twitter was kind enough to reply to me to let me know that was an old hoax. Gotta love Twitter for that.
The moral of the story here? Always be sure to verify your sources. They may not be trying to give you misinformation, but it can still happen.
My other advice? Twitter rocks. I want to thank @jhnwssr for sorting that out quickly for me, and let you all know if you are not yet on Twitter you are missing out. You can get a great free guide to get yourself started that will give you 7 secrets you need to know about Twitter.
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