How A Rumor Spreads

A rumor is a social phenomenon that needs at least one person to create and spread it, and many others to modify and transmit it. Therefore, understanding how a rumor spreads is the key to avoiding it.

Many of the conversations we have on a daily basis are filled with exchanges of gossip. They are immersed in society. In fact, it is fleeting because it tries to hide itself in the guise of true information.

Thus, the veracity of the rumor is in doubt, or rather cannot be corroborated. They are usually generated and broadcast by word of mouth, although it is true that they can sometimes also be propagated by the media.

Rumors often arise to condition people’s thinking or behavior for a specific purpose. While, at least at first, you can’t confirm its veracity, comments don’t take long to spread. That’s because they tend to be shocking or controversial.

For example, a large company might spread rumors about another competitor’s financial situation. This would create insecurity among customers and workers, with the aim of creating a negative climate and harming your competitor.

The characteristics of the rumor

Before we delve into how a rumor spreads, we will explain what its main characteristics are so that we can properly understand this phenomenon and all that it implies.

Public interest

The rumor must have a certain degree of public interest. Otherwise, no one would bother to broadcast it, or waste time listening, and therefore it would soon be forgotten.

For the greatest impact, the message conveyed must be short, simple and relevant to the recipient. This concept is critical to understanding how a rumor spreads.

Your goal is to convince

A rumor is intended to be accepted as an explanation. Your goal is to convince. It is broadcast to be believed and therefore is protected by the authority of the communicator, which in turn demands confidence in its veracity.

On the other hand, the original source of the rumor is usually attributed to someone important to make it as true as possible.

Information is not confirmed

As we said before, information that is conveyed with a rumor has not been confirmed. In this way, we are content with the belief that the source is trustworthy.

The approach we take to believing a rumor is that not all the information we receive every day has been verified and confirmed ; and yet, in most cases, they are correct.

The rumor as a trial balloon

Rumor can also be used from a position of power as a “trial balloon”. Before making an important decision, incomplete and brief information is released so that it reaches the base and returns enriched with opinions from different levels of society.

For example, as a result of the severe economic crisis suffered in the last decade, many governments launched messages of economic austerity and loss of workers’ labor rights, just to see the response of the population and how this decision would affect their voters.

How a Rumor Spreads and Originates

There are certain basic conditions that cause the birth of a rumor. On the one hand, the content of the transmitted message must be characterized by its informative ambiguity and, on the other hand, immediately capture people’s attention.

If you decided to study how a rumor spreads and then create your own, the first thing would be to have a good story that catches the recipient’s attention. Also, it ‘s important to mix a little truth with a little exaggeration, and then add as much detail as we feel appropriate to ensure truthfulness.

However, we must not forget that in the transmission of information, new content will be added, some will be included and others will be forgotten. This way, the original message will be modified.

The transmission of a rumor

As a result of research by Allport and Postman, the following basic laws of rumor transmission were developed:

• The Law of Leveling: As the rumor gets passed, it tends to taper off and become more concise. The omission of details is not accidental, but there is a certain predisposition to omit some details more than others.
• The law of accent: consists in the selective perception, retention and narration of a limited number of details within a larger context. Some private details are kept throughout the communication.
• The law of assimilation: people reorganize content, giving it a “new shape” according to their interests.

Many of our daily conversations are based on a large number of rumours. Everything from the moral behavior of a co-worker to the fate of the nation attracts interest through disturbing rumours.

So when accurate and complete data about an issue is not available, rumors are frequent. This can completely ruin people’s reputations, discredit causes, and undermine morale. Its manipulation is used as a propaganda tool. However, if we are alert, we can effectively detect them.