The bright side is that in more open societies information is basically free and readily available. People can offer the other side of the story, and as we have seen with the Kony propaganda, the spread of misinformation loses it’s power even as a few people are shedding light on it. The other side of the story did not go as viral but it was available and easily found by anyone who wants to look.

“Unless a response to such a story is positioned in a way that it makes a person look good or feel good to share[..], the response will never gain the power from a strong network.”

With that in mind, then indeed we have a problem when a story has enough emotional or social value that it is worth passing on regardless of the reality.

I would also argue that the concept has to be simple enough to gain mass sharing. Something like Einstein’s theories would probably not go viral among the masses, but celebrity X’s newest boyfriend (truth or not) based upon a single photo can easily go viral to the masses.

An interesting study could be made about hate propaganda over the years from Nazi Germany to Saddam’s Baath party to various “my race” pride groups. The message is spread by finding an emotional core be it fear or pride-based in their target audience and then find simple ideas that make their audience feel more empowered by sharing that simple and yet new idea that empowers the sharer.

Social media, particularly in controlled message countries could prove more of a detriment than benefit to society when wildfire simple emotional messages are lit and allowed to burn freely, when the reality of the situation is not as emotionally powerful to start its own wildfire much less powerful enough to douse the false-fed one raging on.

What I have experienced while working with clients is that people are hesitant to dive into social media on behalf of their company. When you add to that a list of things you cannot do, then the safest path tends to be not to participate. Many organizations would be fine with that. This actually causes lots of problems. I had one client who thought no one in their large organization was using social media. We found many links in social bookmarking sites such as Delicious that directed back to confidential, internal information. The employees were using the tools for ease and productivity without realizing they were compromising security. If you are not actively encouraging people to use social media the right way for personal benefit then there is a lot of room left for accidental mishaps.