This link has been bookmarked by 5 people . It was first bookmarked on 06 Dec 2007, by Paul Gillin.
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10 Jan 12
kianna irvingHotchkiss, Gord. "What Makes a Rumor so Easy to Spread?" Out of My Gord. 3 Dec. 2007. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.outofmygord.com/archive/2007/12/03/What-Makes-a-Rumor-so-Easy-to-Spread.aspx>.
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There’s an inherent trust there and people talk to each other a lot. This makes the social ties within the cluster strong ties. Given this, once one person in the cluster knows something, there’s a pretty good bet that everyone in the cluster will know it in a relatively short period of time.
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To do this, we’re relying on social ties that are much weaker than strong ties. We’re counting on an acquaintance to pass word along. And for that to happen, some conditions have to be met first.
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"drawbridges" that are metaphorically raised and lowered by transmitters depending on the moral hazards imposed by the information transmitted by word of mouth.
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What they found was that amongst strong ties, word of the sales spread fairly quickly in most instances. But when the message wasn’t that remarkable (the 20% off example), word of mouth had difficulty jumping across weak ties. Also, when moral hazard was high (quantities were limited) again, the message tended to get stuck within a cluster and not be transmitted across the weak ties.
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In the first instance, you would probably only pass along the information if someone happened to mention to you that they were thinking of going to Mexico. The information is not that note worthy
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This is noteworthy enough that it merits bringing up in any context. It’s worth interrupting normal conversations for. Word will spread far and wide, across strong ties and weak ties alike.
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There are only 20 seats available, so if we tell too many people, we might not get a chance to take advantage of the sale ourselves.
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Secondly, the likelihood to spread a rumor depends on the nature of the rumor itself.
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When it comes to rumors, the closer to home they hit, the better.
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But an affair leading to a marriage break up, being fired from a job or a significant health issue, unfortunately, are stories made to spread. Because we're human and inherently competitive, we love to spread bad news about others.
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Rumors are subjected to “flattening”, “sharpening” and “assimilation”, just to make the story a little more sticky.
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Regardless, if they’re not pertinent to the main story we want to get across, or if they dilute the story, we toss them out.
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Sharpening takes the remaining facts and enhances them a little (or a lot) to bring the story and it’s value as news into sharper focus.
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We alter the story so it fits with ours (and our recipients) shared beliefs and views of the world. That’s one reason why rumors are so “spreadable”. We alter the story to ensure it’s interesting, and the further the story goes, the more irresistible it becomes.
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. For instance, negative word of mouth and rumors share a lot in common. There’s generally no moral hazard in play. In fact, the reverse is true. You’re actually helping people out by sharing this information, and you get a little retribution and revenge yourself. It’s a twisted win-win!
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. Again, it comes to our concept of social hierarchy and building ourselves up through the misfortunes of others. Admirable it’s not, but predictable? You bet!
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By the way, remember that negative word of mouth will also be subjected to flattening and sharpening, as well as assimilation. So the negative buzz will get worse with each retelling.
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06 Mar 10
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06 Dec 07
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Secondly, the likelihood to spread a rumor depends on the nature of the rumor itself. First of all, does it involve people we know? Personal rumors about people we know are almost irresistible to spread.
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