Tracking Swine Flu on Twitter

Posted on April 26, 2009

Twitter has been criticized for being unreliable and misinforming when it comes to the swine flu. The truth is that it depends on who you follow. On any subject and topic you will find people on Twitter spreading both reliable and unreliable information. People do this in the real world too - they spread rumors, theories and sometimes people even share things that they know are not true. That's just how people are. Try a Twitter search for swine flu and you will find retweets of swine flu news, confusion about whether it is safe to eat pork (it is safe), jokes, people saying they are afraid and even conspiracy theories.

Most people try and share the truth with one another and most people are doing that on Twitter. A lot of people are also theorizing and worrying and they are expressing their thoughts on Twitter. There's not anything wrong with that. It's just human nature.

If you want reliable information then you need to follow reliable news sources. The most reliable is likely CDC's Emergency twitter, located at @CDCemergency. There's also @birdflu, which is focused on bird flu and the World Health Organization's account, @WHO. The @breakingnews has been covering the swine flu frequently as well. There are also numerous local news twitters that people can follow. Visit the website of your local tv news website and it likely has a Twitter.