Twitter Considered Harmful To Swine-Flu Panic

judgecorp writes "Twitter is being criticized for spreading panic about swine flu. This is not just knee-jerk Luddism 2.0: it's argued that Twitter's structure encourages ill-informed repetition, with little room for context, while older Web media use their power for good — for instance Google's Flu Trends page (which we discussed last winter), and the introduction of a Google swine flu map." On a related note, reader NewtonsLaw suggests that it might be a good idea, epidemiologically speaking, to catch the flu now vs. later.

Comments

Life imitating art?

[DavidChristopher]

http://xkcd.com/574/

I'm not sure if that's funny, ironic, satiristic, scary or just reality, but, you've GOT to wonder...

Re:Life imitating art?

[TheMightyFuzzball]

XKCD Considered Harmful To Swine-Flu Panic

Re:Life imitating art?

[skroops]

I've determined that the most slashdot articles are complicated set-ups for xkcd links

Re:Life imitating art?

[Hotawa Hawk-eye]

And when XKCD references the Slashdot posts whose comments include those links, the circle of life is at last complete.

Autism

[MortenMW]

Just lick a kid with autism and you will be safe!

Re:Autism

[RiotingPacifist]

Not as safe as if you move,... to Madagascar!

Re:Autism

[ultranova]

If you're an American, you can easily be even safer. Since influenza is spread by people sneezing, just look out for anyone near you drawing a deep breath: they're about to sneeze and spew deadly microbes in your direction, so shoot them first!!! The jury, being your peers, will certainly acquit you on grounds of self-defense, and the police will even help arrange the corpse so its mouth is open wider to make it look better for you in the photos, at least if you live where cayenne8 does.

And remember to get plenty of sleep so no one shoots you by accident when you yawn.

A better idea

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

might be a good idea, epidemiologically speaking, to catch the flu now vs. later.

That's silly: why would the solution to eradicating a disease be catching it when it's already out there?

A better solution would be to treat the causes of the disease in the first place. In this case, H1N1 is a variant of the Spanish flu. Spain, Mexico? see a pattern? Of course, the solution is to ban Spanish and classical guitar worldwide.

Re:A better idea

[Anonymous Coward]

It would be easier to just ban the virus. Make swine-flu illegal, and only outlaws will have swine-flu. Make having swine-flu a felony, punishable by death.

Seriously though, perhaps people are getting sick because they're stressed out. Who better to be stressed out that those 25-40 years old, who are stressed about losing their job and whatnot in this recession. Then again, maybe it's wrong to assume being stressed out affects one's immune system and it's ability to fight off things.

Re:A better idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody expects the Spanish flu!

Re:A better idea

[Smidge207]

In fact, to anthropomorphize the disease a little, the goal it should strive for is not to cause any negative reactions in the host (which implicitly means it can't be triggering the immune system to attack it), and so to benignly infect every human on the planet from now until doomsday.

Already been done; it's called Christianity. ;-)

=Smidge=

Re:Sensationalism

[noidentity]

At least they didn't have any people on saying how awful it felt to die from it (I don't know if it's fatal; I can't be bothered to read about it).

Re:Difficult

[Anonymous Coward]

retards?

Re:Difficult

[Errtu76]

People using twitter, or people blaming twitter. What's the word I'm looking for?

crap

Re:Sensationalism

[DigiShaman]

Can someone please tell me why Fox News is always singled out on Slashdot? Is CNN and MSNBC any better? If so, explain.

Re:Twitter: good vs. bad

[SnowZero]

The "no context" is not an inescapable consequence of the infamous 140-character medium -- the web has a useful, low-character, way to sprea

Sorry, I had to stop reading after 140 characters, so I will assume the web is spreading this disease with a low-character method: Twitter!

Re:This just in

[chromas]

I'm not a part of a conspiracy or the Illuminati

That's just what you want me to believe. Anyway, what's a newspaper?

Re:This just in

[Anonymous Coward]

that's what they all say! And therefore you have just proven his point by denying it.

Re:Sensationalism

[chromas]

I've died from it twice so far. It really is a bad way to go.

Re:Sensationalism

[roguetrick]

Yes, we all need to know the symptoms of the goddamn flu.

Re:XKCD

[oneirophrenos]

Why all the xkcd related posts lately?

Where do you think slashdot editors get their news?

false information in comic

[drben]

You cannot get swine flu from eating pork.

However, you can get revenge that way.

Thank God - I'm safe, I'm a vegetarian

[Chrisq]

At least I won't have to bother with all this washing your hands, avoiding public places, looking out for symptoms malarkey. Serves you meat eaters right!

Re:Thank God - I'm safe, I'm a vegetarian

[MBaldelli]

lol - you wish!

(It's not caught from eating pork)

Apparent damage to sarcasm duly noted.

So tell me, did this damage to your sense of sarcasm happen because of the swine flu, or just hanging around here for years?

Re:Thank God - I'm safe, I'm a vegetarian

[smooth wombat]

Yeah, because there's no reason to worry about vegetables causing illnesses.

Re:But there is a difference...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing they have Regular, Super and Diesel in Oz. It's the same in America, at least the gas stations I go to.

Re:But there is a difference...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=australia+super

First four links...

Swine flu spreads via Twitter!

[Culture20]

Swine flu fears spread via Twitter! http://example.com/ ZOMG
RT: @obojbaljsb @ljsndljsd @ksahbksjbdv Swine flu spread via Twitter! http://example.com/
RT: @hbs9yho3u @9jbkjsrg @jkbs8h3g @kbhjs89 @kjbiugs3e Swine flu spreads via Twitter!
Swine flu killed my friend via Twitter!
Fail Whale.

Re:Not a hard prediction

[ultranova]

(In fact, just watch, I'm going to rub my crystal ball and predict that someone will promptly post a reply as to how wrong I am, and how homeopathy works and is proven and cures everything from hypochondria to cancer;)

Homeopathy might well be the correct first-aid response to hypochondria: someone thinks they're sick but aren't, so give them a make-believe medicine.

And be careful with the crystal ball, it it gathers enough static electricity it might turn into ball lighting.