Extreme Weather

On Twitter, Sifting Through Falsehoods in Critical Times

Thu, 2012-11-01 22:27 — Maeryn Obley

Image: A startling but manufactured image of the giant storm that made the rounds on Twitter and Facebook.

nytimes.com - October 31st, 2012 - Jenna Wortham

During Hurricane Sandy’s peak, Twitter was abuzz with activity, as tens of thousands of people turned to the microblogging service for alerts, updates and real-time reports and photographs of the storm.

Trouble is, not all of it was true.

Deliberate falsehoods, including images showing the Statue of Liberty engulfed in ominous clouds and sharks swimming through waterlogged suburban neighborhoods quickly spread through the service, as did word that power would be shut off for the entire city of New York and that the floor of the New York Stock Exchange had been flooded.

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Superstorm Sandy: Surveying the Damage From the Sky

Thu, 2012-11-01 22:03 — Maeryn Obley

abcnews.go.com - November 1st, 2012

http://google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy

Sandy is a major storm, previously a hurricane, that has caused extensive flooding, power and transportation outages, and physical damage to the US East Coast and Caribbean. More than 100 deaths have been linked to the storm.

(GO TO THE SUPERSTORM SANDY GOOGLE CRISIS MAP)

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