Twitter, Hurricane Sandy, and the effects of citizen journalism | Digital Trends

Facebook and Twitter mentions of “Hurricane Sandy” skyrocketed, and Instagram saw 10 photos uploaded per second during the height of the storm on Monday.

Shashank Tripathi, decided to use the viral news peg to spread misinformation about the storm, including posts that said the New York Stock Exchange floor was under three feet of water and that Con Edison was shutting all power off in Manhattan.

Now Tripathi has a decent amount of followers – approximately 6,000 – and the media picked up on some of the false information he was spreading, adding confusion to the mass amount of chaos already consuming the East Coast news cycle.

His motivation for starting the rumors is unclear, but the consequences are. Tripathi resigned from his position with Congress candidate Christopher Wright’s campaign, issued a public apology, and may actually face legal repercussions. According to Buzzfeed, New York City Councilman Peter Vallone has asked the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to investigate the matter

The simple act of tweeting out unsubstantiated information resulted in the likes of established, respected news sources like CNN and The Weather Channel picking up and further spreading the news — and thus, further spreading the panic.

A bevy of inaccurate images spread like wildfire thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, including this now-immortalized photo