伦敦暴乱:负责任使用微博之九种方法 虽然这篇文章写的是twitter,但是我觉得对于我们来说还是很有参考价值的。毕竟我们在使用微博的过程中也会有这样或者那样的问题,希望这篇文章能给大家一些启示 。 译文: 伦敦暴乱:负责任使用微博之 九种 方法 微博被谣言和猜测所淹没。如何在这片微博的汪洋之中剔除不实信息并找出真相呢? 微博被谣言和猜测所淹没,当然也是有有用的信息的。 过去的几天里,随着暴动在伦敦和英格兰的其他地方不断蔓延,微博上也充斥着各种传言、夸大、彻底的谎言和有用的消息。 以下是关于如何在新闻发生时最大化地利用好微博的几点指导。同时也会让你知道怎样才不会吓到别人。 除非是看到事情正在发生,否则别发有关这件事的微博 在微博上传递一些重要的信息可能会是一种极大的诱惑。举个例子来说,“位于图庭的Primark( 英国一家大型的出售服装服饰的连锁店,其价格极其低廉,因此有时会被看作是廉价品的代名词 )被烧光了”这条消息对于那些住在伦敦南部喜欢豹纹紧身裤和廉价手提包的人来说无疑是个巨大的悲剧。所以这条消息能像野火一样在周一晚上迅速传开就一点也不奇怪了。 可问题在于,这条消息根本就不是真的。它只能使恐惧在居住在周围的人们当中传播开来。其实是一条街道(High street)上有烟雾笼罩着,然而那些搞不明白怎么回事的人就直接2加2等于47了(这里的2+2=47是比喻一些人对事情做了极大地夸张)。然后他们朋友的转发使得事情更加糟糕了。 记住有些人是在开玩笑的 图庭Primark的故事是这样开始的:一开始只是一些人拿一句 很押韵呃很二的话开玩笑,“偷伊灵抢图庭” ( stealing in Ealing and looting in Tooting,分别位于大伦敦地区西部及南部的两个地方 )。 虽然是当时只有一件事发生了,可是人们被这句话误导而认为这是真的。如果看到这种非正式的参考信息,记住这些有可能只是为了抖个包袱而已。再次提醒,如果你不确定那就去问个究竟。 记住害怕某件事将要发生和知道某件事将会发生是不一样的 “天啊,我怕他们(暴徒)会来哪里哪里......(打砸抢)”,周一晚上很多有危害性的谣言都是源自于这样的微博。不知道为什么,几条微博之后在别人的微博里就变成了这样,“我听说他们(暴徒)去哪里哪里......(打砸抢)!”然后一个滚雪球的过程就从这开始了。完全可以理解有人担心一些事情有可能会发生并且想去谈论这个事情。但是不要假设这就意味着暴徒马上就到哪里哪里了。 如果你看到传言,直接去问个究竟 如果你转发一条传言,甚至或者你只是发微博去确认一件并不是真的事情,那么你就有可能吓到另一批人,这些人可能都不知道危险从何而来。比如拿这条微博举例来说,巨大的喷着火的黛博拉米登横冲直撞地朝威斯敏斯特而来。 你应该在微博上直接去问当事人是否真的发生了,而不是转发这条消息散播恐惧。也许他们把黛博拉的电视节目和伦敦暴动弄混了。( Dragon's Den是英国BBC2台的一档节目,这是一档有意思的商业点子选秀节目,节目中的嘉宾即评委被称作巨龙Dragon。黛博拉是其中一位嘉宾,所以这是可能为什么说她fire-breathing )试着直接找到看见这事的人去确认此事。 查证先 这真是伯明翰的照片,还是伦敦的呢?警察说过斯肯索普地区有暴动的事了吗?有谁拍到巨大 黛博拉米登的照片了吗?如果没有,你怎么知道是真的? 如果你看到了一些你知道不是真实的事情,试着纠正一下 有些人不知道为什么很喜欢发一些微博,很随机地全部用大写字母讲一些谣言,说谢菲德公园着火了。当问及和反驳这些言论的时候,一些人能很巧妙的回答,而有些人则云山雾罩地说一堆敷衍的理由。 但是,不管你是当面去找人问清,还是发一些根本没有在着火的公园的图片,那些后来跟着发微博澄清在他周边地区正在发生什么的人会感激你尝去挖掘真相的。试着在你的微博上加上事情的来龙去脉,这是让大家信任你胜过信任别人的一个很好理由。 如果你要发微博说一些你能看到的事情,详细些 记住:如果你看得见,还能有办法把消息传出去,这时候你已经是实际意义上的一个记者了。所以你要对你的权利负责。详细的说明你在哪,还有你能看见什么。 要忍住你的欲望,想夸大和假设你并没有看到的事情的欲望,坚持你眼前能看到的东西。如果你能发带图片的微博,那就去拍。但是要注意安全,不要冒无畏的风险去拍。因为,你现在很重要,以至于(我们)不能失去你(这个信息来源)。 关注你信任的人 很多地方警察局都有自己的微博来发布消息和澄清传言,找到并关注你自己地区的警局的微博是很值得去做的。还有很多记者的微博,全国性报社媒体的微博。比如卫报微博、记者保罗和穆斯塔法的个人微博,以及许多来自BBC、Sky记者的和ITN的微博。 还有本地媒体的记者,自由撰稿人和很多承诺保证发布真实信息而非传言的网友们。每个社区都有一些做这行很坚定的人,找到并帮助他们吧。 如果你出去打砸抢了,请发微博(告诉大家) 听从这条建议会让警察的工作更好做一些。 译者注: 虽然这篇文章是写给处在暴乱中的英国人的,但是我觉得对于我们很有参考价值。我们也要学会如何用好微博这个有史以来最自由的平台,保证上面信息的纯净和真实是我们的责任。 总的来说就是那句老话:耳听为虚,眼见为实。但是记住不是看见微博就是真的,而是看到真相才是真的。转发分享重要信息的时候用一分钟想想是不是真的,想要询问和澄清某事时要准确说明。 用怀疑的眼光去考虑事情,用信任的态度去结交朋友 ,不懂则问。人生何尝不是如此呢? 原文 UK riots: nine ways to use Twitter responsibly UK riots: nine ways to use Twitter responsibly Twitter has been awash with false rumour and speculation. How can you cut through the sea of inaccurate tweets and find out what's really going on? Twitter has been awash with rumour, as well as useful information. Photograph: Iain Masterton / Alamy As the riots spread across London and the rest of the country over the last few days, Twitter has been awash with rumour, exaggeration and downright untruth alongside people spreading useful news. Here are a few simple pointers on how to get the most out of Twitter as news breaks – and how to avoid scaring people in the process. Unless you can see it happening, don't tweet about it. It can be immensely tempting to pass on the vital information that – for instance – Primark in Tooting has burned to the ground. It's a tremendously sad thought for devotees of leopard-print leggings and cheap handbags in south London, so it's no surprise that the news spread like wildfire on Monday night. The problem was that it was entirely untrue, and served only to spread fear among people living there. In this case, there was a pall of smoke hanging over the high street, and people who couldn't see the source put two and two together and came up with 47 – and then their friends helpfully made things worse by retweeting it. Bear in mind that some people are making jokes. This is how the Tooting Primark story began: with people making silly rhyming jokes about stealing in Ealing and looting in Tooting. The problem there is that only one of those things was actually happening at the time, but people latched onto the phrase as though it was true. If you see those sorts of casual references, bear in mind they might just be there to make a punchline. Once again, if you're not certain, ask. Bear in mind that being scared of something happening isn't the same thing as knowing that it's going to happen. A lot of the most virulent rumours on Monday night in London came about through people tweeting things like "Oh god, I'm scared they're coming to Brighton/Luton/Scunthorpe." Somehow, in the space of a few tweets, those thoughts morphed into others saying "I'm hearing rumours about them coming to Brighton/Luton/Scunthorpe!" and the whole affair snowballed from there. It's totally understandable that people are scared of what might happen, and want to talk about it – but don't assume that means that looters are imminently descending on Scunthorpe. If you see rumours, question them directly. If you retweet a rumour, even if you're looking for confirmation that it isn't true, what you may be doing is scaring a whole new set of people who had no idea that they might be in danger from, say, a giant fire-breathing Deborah Meaden rampaging towards Westminster. Rather than passing it on and thereby spreading the fear, try tweeting people directly to ask whether they know something is definitely happening, or whether they might have gotten a touch confused between the new Dragon's Den and the rolling riots coverage. Try to get direct confirmation from someone who has actually seen Deborah in all her glory. Get verification. Is that picture really of Birmingham, or is it of London? Have the local police said anything about riots in Scunthorpe? Has anyone got any pictures of the giant Deborah Meaden? If not, how do you know it's true? If you see something you know isn't true, try to correct it. Some people, for reasons unknown, enjoy tweeting random untruths composed entirely in capital letters about Shepherd's Bush being ON FIRE. Some of those people respond well when asked politely to retract their statements, while others may respond with a wild barrage of random abuse for no readily apparent reason. However, the people following what's going on in their neighbourhood will appreciate you trying to get the truth out – whether it's through questioning someone in person or through tweeting pictures of bits of Shepherd's Bush which are definitely NOT ON FIRE. Try to add context to your tweets – give people good reasons to believe you more than the other person. If you're tweeting about things you can see, be specific. Remember: if you can see it and you've got the means to publish information about it, that makes you a de facto journalist. So be responsible with your power. Be specific about where you are and what you can see. Resist the urge to exaggerate or assume things you can't see - stick to what's in front of you. If you can tweet pictures, do – but stay safe and don't take unnecessary risks to do so. You're too important to lose. Follow people you trust to be accurate. Many local police forces have been using Twitter to give out information and field rumours, and it's well worth finding yours and following them. There are a lot of journalists on Twitter – national newspaper tweeters like our Guardian team, including Paul Lewis and Mustafa Khalili , as well as dozens of reporters from other papers, the BBC, Sky and ITN news teams. There are also local journalists from local papers, freelancers, and all sorts of folks committed to making sure they spread the truth and don't spread rumours. Every community has a few stalwarts who do this work. Find yours, and help them out. This Twitter list of trusted journalists covering the riots , compiled by the Sky News producer Neal Mann, aka @fieldproducer, is also useful. If you've been out looting and rioting, please tweet about it. Following this advice will make the police's job much easier.