NSF Research Reveals Chain Letter Travel Patterns

alphadogg writes to tell us that the NSF is researching chain letters and how they travel. The results aren't quite what one might expect, showing a pattern of more selective and circuitous travel. "One surprising finding was that messages often took meandering routes between people who knew each other, often through as many as 100 intermediaries. Many email users also received copies from multiple social groups. The researchers concluded that because messages come from many directions, there's ample opportunity for the messages to be edited along the way."

Comments

Politically-motivated Chain Letters

[GodfatherofSoul]

I'd be interested in how some of these patterns reveal themselves, especially for the Rovian whisper campaigns we see a lot of nowadays. While a liberal myself, I have a ton of conservative friends from disparate social circles who get the same types of "stupid liberals...tell your friends" chain letters that they always pass on to me lol.

The timing seems impeccable at times as well. After 9/11, they all passed on a "Palestinians did it" letter around the same time. Same with the "Obama is a Muslim" letter. Of course, geography might be an issue since they all live relatively close to me.

Re:Politically-motivated Chain Letters

[omeomi]

I have a ton of conservative friends from disparate social circles who get the same types of "stupid liberals...tell your friends"

Those are fun. I used to get those from one particular friend until I started sending point-by-point responses with links to government websites that actually gave the real facts behind the conservative hype. He stopped sending them to me. Either he got the point, or didn't want facts to get in the way of hype. I don't know which.

Re:Politically-motivated Chain Letters

[zappepcs]

roflmao... you really get facts from the government? really????

I do know what you mean though, when I get chain letters I always reply to all with links to information that debunks it if any exists. At the bottom of such emails I always send links to snopes, and several other places... intimating that they could check their facts before believing or forwarding Internet junk to anyone else. Nothing like being shown that you are wrong in front of your whole email list LOLOL

Re:Politically-motivated Chain Letters

[NoobixCube]

Any basic, factual information can have a slight twist to its presentation. Something as simple as positioning two unrelated statistics next to each other without ever specifically linking them can tint someone's view. Or, if it's graphed, and you want to hide or exaggerate the increase in something like a crime rate, then you increase or decrease the increment on either axis. Sure, when you read it, you know what you're actually looking at, but a steep curve means more to your subconscious than any numbers ever could. I'm not attacking any specific government or agency in this. Just pointing out that facts are rarely just facts.

Re:Politically-motivated Chain Letters

[IntlHarvester]

Interestingly, the latest political chainmail tactic is to include a link to Snopes.

Snopes, of course, says just the opposite of what the letter implies, but apparently most people will take the link alone at face value

Re:Politically-motivated Chain Letters

[Skater]

I used to get religious chain letters. Those were annoying because they usually contained all kinds of tripe about how the phrase "under God" in the US Pledge of Allegiance was a good thing or similar idiotic issues. The most annoying part of them was that they usually ended with something like, "If you don't agree, just delete this," which basically says that it's okay for them to share their opinion with me, but they don't want to hear mine back.

I, of course, would gladly send my opinion back to the person that sent it to me. She no longer sends them to me.

Logical Conclusion:

[NoobixCube]

Some people send chain mail, others don't. Others still, don't want their friends to know they're chain mail sending idiots, thus explaining the "meandering routes".

One of My Observations Is

[beadfulthings]

That for the interval covered by the (Bill) Clinton administration, my inbox was full of conservative (and Republican) generated "pass it on" emails vilifying him and anybody else connected with his administration. I probably got two or three a day. For the past eight years we've had a Republican in office, and I don't remember even a single liberal (or Democratic) generated email vilifying the Republicans. I'd almost have to say that if you observed my inbox, Republicans and conservatives love to send these out and liberals and Democrats don't.

Re:One of My Observations Is

[elnico]

That for the interval covered by the (George W.) Bush administration, my browser was full of liberal (and Democratic) generated blogs vilifying him and anybody else connected with his administration. There probably were two or three thousand entries a day. For the prior eight years we had a Democrat in office, and I don't remember even a single conservative (or Republican) generated blog vilifying the Democrats. I'd almost have to say that if you observed my browser, Democrats and liberals love to blog and conservatives and Republicans don't.

Re:One of My Observations Is

[Anonymous Coward]

Your observations are supported by research. FactCheck.org posted commentary recently that "notes a decidedly anti-Democrat tilt to the bulk of the e-mail chatter." http://www.factcheck.org/specialreports/that_chain_e-mail_your_friend_sent_to.html