What a Small Town Online Campaign Against Misinformation Can Look Like

A free resource by Jayne Cravens
More resources at coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

What a Small Town Online Campaign

Against Misinformation Can Look Like

Since 2004, I have been gathering and sharing examples of widespread misunderstanding and myth-spreading interfering with relief and development activities, and government initiatives, including public health initiatives -- even bringing such to a grinding halt. I also have extensive list of recommendations on preventing folklore, rumors and urban myths from interfering with development and aid/relief efforts and government initiatives.

I'm offering this case study because I was a part of the online community where this attempt at a misinformation campaign was started, and I want to show that ANY community, in ANY country, is vulnerable to such myth-spreading:

In June 2017, an image was posted to a very popular Facebook group that targeted an Oregon small town in particular. The image claimed to be by a woman who had been to a local grocery store in the town and who, while in the parking lot, was accosted by strangers who wanted to buy her baby. A number of things in the claim and image made the online community skeptical:

Below is the fake meme, which I've tried to watermark throughout with tags to show that it's fake, in case someone tries to share it as a real warning. It's followed by a selection of screen captures of posts made by moderators and members of the group, and these illustrate how the Facebook group members immediately began trying to debunk the misinformation, as well as a selection of responses from people willing to believe the story. Then come screen captures of posts by members of the city's police department to show how they were trying to respond and debunk the rumors. The last post is by a police representative who is originally from the town where this event supposedly happened, who had built strong ties to the community over the years through proactive outreach (he invited me for coffee soon after I moved here), and who was a very trusted community member - all of his trust-building paid off, because as you see very early on, someone tags him to make sure he is seeing the thread, and once he posted his response (last screen capture), the controversy quickly died down. It's an illustration of what I try to say in my long list of recommendations on addressing folklore, rumors and urban myths - it's why most of my recommendations are about the community trust-building that needs to happen BEFORE any event like this takes place.

In the screen captures, I have masked the names of all people posting except for myself and the representatives of the police department - however, note that I have not masked the name of the city and, as this all from a Facebook group, the information is public: anyone with a Facebook group could find this information, with no filters, online. I don't want to embarrass anyone who believed the meme before it was thoroughly debunked, however, everyone who posts to Facebook should remember that what they post is, virtually speaking, forever and easily found online.

In case the thread or the group is ever erased, I also have the entire conversation, uncensored, in a PDF and am willing to share it with academic researchers regarding projects related to addressing online rumors / misinformation.

If you have a sight impairment and are doing academic research and need these images transcribed for your research, please contact me and I will be happy to help you.

Also see Factors for Success for a Neighborhood or Town-Based Online Community and Launching & Maintaining a Successful Online Community for a Neighborhood, Town, City or County

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