Research On The Spread Of Health-related Rumors In Social Media And Countermeasures

Relevant investigations revealed that health rumors related to health issues such as food nutrition and safety,health care,environmental hygiene,and lifestyle habits are spreading in social media,and have brought serious negative effects to the harmonious development of individuals,businesses,networks,and society.At present,academic circles have made many macro recommendations on how to govern online rumors.However,health rumors have characteristics that are different from other types of rumors,such as repeated transmission and involvement of professional knowledge.Because of this,the author believes that it is necessary to provide targeted response to the governance of health rumors.This topic analyzes the texts of 285 health rumors collected on the Sina“Weibo Refutes Rumors”.It finds that health rumors often use some means to obtain the audience's attention,trust and forwarding,such as the accumulation of risk vocabulary,commonly used to "inducing sharers","localization reform",under the guise of authoritative organizations,"living" with pictures and video.The reason why these means work is more because of the deep reasons behind it.From a personal perspective,sinners lack legal knowledge and awareness,and believers lack the media literacy and health knowledge.This has led to the generation and dissemination of many absurd health rumors;on the social level,the failure of the government to disclose information in a timely and comprehensive manner and the low level of public trust caused by scandals in health-related fields is the root cause of the proliferation of health rumors.The study also found that in the governance of rumors we also have problems such as the predicament of refuting the rumor,the weakness of the rule of law,and the lack of media literacy education.In view of this,this topic proposes specific countermeasures for the current status of the health rumors: On the basis of rumor refutal,the effect of rumor refutal can be enhanced through pushing the information about rumor refutal precisely,advertising rumor refutal institutions,and the establishment of “community rumors governance specialists”;In the rule of law,the author believes that it is necessary not only to increase penalties for pedophiles,but also to severely punish the illegal economy,maximize the role of the law,and reshape the social credit system;in addition,it must also vigorously promote media literacy education and health communication from theoretical research to practice.It is widely promoted on campus and in the community to enhance the discernment and immunity of the audience,so that the health rumors are nothing.