On one of the coldest days of this Minnesota winter, a Twin Cities man with a Twitter following posted that the new stadium in town would be open for the homeless. His intent, he states, was to point out how much the state invested in a stadium when there are people living on the streets. His friend retweeted the post. As the strange magic of viral posts happened, the news spread. National news sites even retweeted the news. Local journalists debunked the news with minimal sleuthing. The power of this single tweet caused the author to pull his entire Twitter account. This is a significant consequence for someone who is noted to be in marketing.
This StarTribune article discusses the situation in the article Twin Cities man shuts Twitter account after false post about U.S. Bank Stadium turning into homeless shelte.
Jake Nyberg’s statement from the StarTribune article is here:
“In hindsight, I chose a stupid and shortsighted way to bring attention to what I believe is a worthwhile question — whether it might make sense for a large, warm, publicly funded building to be opened to those experiencing homelessness on a very cold night,” he said via e-mail in response to questions. “This obviously backfired, I regret it and sincerely apologize.”
The original posts went viral. The news story also spread beyond the cold streets of Minnesota.
Forbes’ article focuses on another Tweeter who had a larger group of followers: Vikings Stadium Twitter Hoax Shows Why Fake News Doesn’t Thrive In Sports
Pittsburgh’s WTEA:A Twitter hoax: Minnesota Vikings didn’t open US Bank Stadium to the homeless
AbuquerqueJournalTwitter hoax targeted Vikings, stadium and the homeless
Pages of news sources show up when researching this event.
We will never know the full rational of the men who spread this fake news. But, the consequences were severe.
How can we get our students to stop and think before they post? How can we prevent them from the negativity of the power of a single (bad) tweet?
Your Perspective: How have you addressed viral fake news with your students? What is your favorite example? Please share below.