Spread and Skepticism: Metrics of Propagation on Twitter

Abstract

Social media has become part of modern news reporting, used by journalists to spread information and find sources, or as a news source by individuals. The quest for prominence and recognition on sites like Twitter can sometimes eclipse accuracy and lead to the spread of false information. Could we use the so-called "wisdom of crowds" to predict the likelihood that a claim may be true or false? This paper, part of ongoing research, offers evidence that most false claims do not spread like true ones, and that the reaction of the audience to a claim on Twitter is correlated with its validity.