Remember the Sarah Palin divorce rumors from last August?

@BillMcDowell RT @tweetmeme: Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce http://bit.ly/184RvJ (via @ConservNewMedia) OMG!! NO! Anyone see that coming?

@lmries Sarah Palin is getting a divorce. Guess she’s not done quitting things just yet. http://bit.ly/wKkUo (via @laurzone)

@tanabutler RT @CharlesMBlow: AlaskaReport: “Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce: Affairs on both sides” Can this be true? <–Even I don’t believe it. Yet

These were among the thousands of tweets that turned an unsubstantiated article on the Alaska Report website into a household story within hours. It didn’t take long for the explosive story to spread beyond social media websites into mainstream news channels. To combat the fast-moving rumor, Palin administration spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton was directed to post an urgent response on the Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, which read: “Yet again, some so-called journalists have decided to make up a story. There is no truth to the recent “story” (and story is the correct term for this type of fiction) that the Palins are divorcing.”

Within minutes the Facebook message made its way onto Twitter and the message arms-race began.

After Stapleton’s denial of the divorce rumor, the tone of Twitter posts began to shift from anti-Palin attacks to Palin-neutral and pro-Palin sentiments. Before long “Palin” became a “trending topic,” and the claims in the Alaska Report story were delegitimized.

Palin wasn’t in office at the time, having resigned as Alaska Governor earlier that summer, but as a high-profile national political figure who remains a possible contender for the 2012 presidency, her use of Twitter to help combat the divorce rumor is noteworthy. In fact, Twitter represents the latest front in the ongoing battle to inform the public of "ground truths" and stomp out misinformation, rumors and conspiracy theories before they can take root.

In an age where information spread can reach epidemic levels in mere minutes, political leaders, candidates and government officials are realizing they must be on guard 24/7 to quickly nip rumors and negative stories in the bud. Delays of even a few hours can be enough to let a story spin out of control, and make leaders appear flat-footed and unresponsive.

Earthquake! Or maybe not...

Twitter’s appeal as a public affairs tool for government officials is perhaps greatest in crisis-communications mode when time is of the essence and “official information” is in short supply. 

In January of 2009 and 2010, seismologists at the United States Geologic Survey picked up on rumors originating in blogs and spread via Twitter and other social media, that Yellowstone National Park’s super-volcano would soon erupt.

Concerned about public panic fed by the rumors, officials at the USGS and Yellowstone National Park updated their social media pages with factual explanations of the seismic activity in order to combat the fearmongering. The direct response was uncharacteristic, as government agencies generally prefer to address rumors indirectly, so as not to give further attention or credence to the posters.

But here, Yellowstone park officials linked a tweet to their Facebook page, which included a longer description of the occurring seismic activity, along with a special message that read: “NOTE: Don't fret; University of Utah researchers remind the public that earthquakes are a common event in the world's first national park.”

The USGS added its own response, linking a tweet to a previously written article about earthquake swarms on its website, which also stressed the normality of seismic activity in Yellowstone.

Together, the “official” links provided some facts and critical context to those stricken with fear or mere curiosity about the rumbles in the ground. Citizens reading these official accounts by @USGS or @ynp tweeted the good word that Yellowstone was no more active than it had been (on average) in the past, putting an end to the rumor of imminent catastrophe.

Dina Venezky, a USGS staff member working at the University of Utah’s Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, said of the swarm rumors, “It appeared that many people helped dispel misinformation quickly, which we greatly appreciated and attributed to our increased communications over the past few years.”

But I saw it on CNN

It’s not just uninformed citizens who are behind Twitter rumors about government activity. Even mainstream media sources are guilty of spreading unsubstantiated accounts that call for swift rumor control by the affected agencies and officials.

On March 23, 2009 at 1:35 p.m. ET, a CNN report and tweet falsely claimed that a low-flying C-17 had crashed near Olney, Texas, after reports by so-called witnesses and an apparent confirmation by a spokesman for Sheppard Air Force base. Less than a minute after the story’s publication and social media postings, tweets quickly began popping up echoing the information. The authenticity of the report immediately became the focus of Twitter users.

Nine minutes later, chat threads for the crash report appeared. After seven more minutes --- 17 minutes after the publication of the CNN story and 18 minutes after the “reported” crash supposedly occurred --- the official Air Force Twitter account (then @AFPAA, now @usairforce) sent a tweet to counter the story, stating: “We have no reports of a US Air Force airplane down in TX. Pls spread the word. not US Air Force. We’re looking into it.”

Within an hour of the original crash report, CNN had rescinded their story and the rumor was fully squashed. An update from the Air Force on Twitter revealed that the low-flying plane made its way back to Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma and the miscommunication resulted from a concerned citizen’s 911 call. The incident showed how, just as quickly as social media can spread misinformation, it can also correct the errors and get the true story out.

Calm during the storm

The public utility company Memphis Light, Gas, and Water had been using Twitter since 2008 as one of several ways to convey news and updates to its customers. When a major storm hit the city in June 2009, the local government entity also found Twitter to be a great means of addressing rumors about power outages and when service would be restored.

The @MLGW Twitter account had a grand total of 220 followers prior to the June 12, 2009 thunderstorms and tornado watches, when Glen Thomas, the communications supervisor for the utility, announced to followers that Twitter would be a major means of communication in the event of power outages.

In past storms, MLGW had put out such alerts primarily on radio, TV and print media, as well as some online media, Thomas told OhMyGov.com. But after learning about the severity of the impending storm, “We immediately discussed boosting the online component while maintaining our traditional communication outlets,” said Thomas. When the storm took out power to 141,000 customers, MLGW was able to leverage Twitter to inform many of its customers directly or indirectly via Twitter. During the following week that it took to fix the outages, MLGW’s Twitter following increased to over 1,500 followers. Currently, @MLGW boasts 2,700 followers.

Using the free program TweetDeck, Thomas and his staff organized the inflow of tweets to be able to respond quickly to customer comments and questions. The team worked in shifts to monitor the social media accounts, and Thomas said, they were able to “have hundreds, maybe thousands of conversations that [we] would not have necessarily had otherwise.

“Twitter, especially, allowed us to tackle emerging issues such as overloaded phone lines, rumors and other developments that could have become larger, media-fueled incidents,” Thomas told OhMyGov.

Tweeting the oil spill response

Tracking and responding to rumors being spread via social media isn’t a glamorous job, but it is absolutely necessary for any government agency hoping to keep the public informed.

In the case of the BP oil spill, the government faces a major crisis where millions of people are eager to know the latest official information, and where rumors and unverified facts are liable to spread as fast as the oil slick itself. Once again, Twitter is center stage.

The Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, a joint command involving BP, Transocean and numerous federal government agencies who are managing response operations for the oil spill, have established the Twitter account @oil_spill_2010 as an official information source.

Among the messages posted in the early days of the crisis:

@USCG CG continues SAR and pollution response to oil drilling platform fire http://tinyurl.com/2eyckrk #uscg #sar2:46 PM Apr 21st via web

@usoceangov NOAA is supporting efforts after an explosion and fire on a drilling platform southeast of the Mississippi Delta:http://go.usa.gov/iNm3:39 PM Apr 21st via web

@BP_America BP PLEDGES FULL SUPPORT FOR DEEPWATER HORIZON PROBES: http://bit.ly/bo4twN8:26 PM Apr 27th via twitterfeed

@whitehouse Gibbs post: The Response to the Oil Spill So Farhttp://tiny.cc/cv46n8:59 AM Apr 30th via web

@EPAnews EPA Establishes Web site on BP Oil Spill / EPA launches site to inform the public about health, environmental impa...http://bit.ly/9HjABe4:18 PM Apr 30th via twitterfeed

News of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico came not from mainstream media, bloggers, nor BP, but from the U.S. Coast Guard, which had to answer the emergency call and conduct the search for the 11 missing workers after the initial oil rig explosion. Still, with the news breaking at 11 p.m. the night of April 20, it took an unusually long time to make its way to social media sites, even Twitter.

The news didn’t hit mainstream media until an hour after the U.S. Coast Guard sent its first tweet, which resulted from a “News Release” and “Media Advisory” regarding the Coast Guard’s response to the oil rig-platform fire and announcement of a press conference about the explosion to be held at 3 p.m. CST.

In the first national crisis where government agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided to fully utilize social media as a form of communication, plenty of news is reaching people first via Twitter.

Lt. Cmdr. Jim Hoeft of the U.S. Navy, an online communications coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon Response, said, “You have to go where the people are going to get their information in order to get the word out and that’s what we’re doing.” And it’s on Twitter that word can and does spread the quickest, a result of its mobile functionality and quick 140 character bursts.

Yet even as response times shorten, it’s still inevitably a cat-and-mouse race between facts and misinformation.

“There was a rumor on Friday that the blowout preventer exploded. That is clearly not the case,” said Hoeft. “We’re constantly updating the live feed on our website and social media sites so people know that if anything major happens they’ll hear it from us right away.” Hoeft explained NOAA’s logic behind its information-sharing openness by noting that if there is an attempt to spread a rumor, it can’t progress unless people choose not to read NOAA funded news and social media or believe NOAA’s information.

Certainly a key purpose behind the Deepwater Horizon Response social media effort is preventing the spread of misinformation. Instead of information traveling through numerous sources and being edited down to paint a partial picture of an event, agencies are posting raw information updates via Twitter to anyone who cares to follow. As soon as the oil spill news breaks, expect to hear about it from @oil_spill_2010.

“What we’re seeing is a lot of people being engaged. Folks are definitely appreciative. We see that in retweets or comments that appear on Facebook,” said Hoeft. “We are giving everyone all of the information we have or receive as soon as we get it.”

Story updated June 29, 2010 with information on current Twitter accounts.