The recent rains, high rivers, flooding and events at the Rapidan Dam brought a torrent of social media posts — many misleading or false — that flowed as fast and furious as the river currents.
There was plenty of interest in the high rivers and flooding in recent weeks, but when word came early Monday morning about problems at the dam and that the powerful waters of the Blue Earth River broke around the end of the dam, next to The Dam Store, social media posts understandably ramped up exponentially.
Some of the earliest posts on Facebook and other platforms falsely said the dam had broken apart and a wall of water was heading downstream and toward Mankato. That thought put fear into many in Mankato and North Mankato.
Living in Lower North Mankato, close to the river, we soon began getting calls and texts from friends and relatives worrying we were going to be under water and should head to higher ground.
For those of us beginning to report on the big event, the flood of social media posts was a dilemma. The media wants to quickly post information on their website to let people know what’s happening, particularly if it could be a public safety issue. But we also want to know, to the best of our ability, if what we put up is true.
When our photographer, Casey Ek, got to the dam, we were able to verify that the dam was still in place and that while water was rushing in a torrent around the end of the dam there was no wall of water. Soon Mankato and county officials were trying to get ahead of the rumors and fear.
Consulting with federal experts familiar with the river and dam, local officials put out information to the news media and on social media saying that if the dam were to break apart, there could be up to two feet of water added just down from the dam but by the time it got to Mankato, 10 miles away, it would raise the Minnesota River only by 2-4 inches. And while the river was high in Mankato-North Mankato, there were still some 10 feet left before water would reach the top of the flood walls.
There are plenty of armchair experts on Facebook and other social media. When North Mankato added an earthen levee across the bottom of Lookout Drive, several people posted about how stupid officials were to think an earthen levee would help if water got higher and saying the levee was proof that water from the dam would flood Lower North Mankato.
Never mind that the city has built the levee there in past big floods, something required by the Army Corps of Engineers when the river hits a certain height. And never mind that how the levee is installed was well designed and engineered by those whose job it is to know how to build them.
While the angry and untrue posts seem to often far outnumber other comments, there are always a few people trying to talk sense against a whirlpool of caustic comments. After spouting off about how foolish officials were to build an earthen levy, another poster said “This is why we listen to engineers and not you.”
Why so much bad information is spread so rapidly on social media has been well studied.
For starters, many people love to spread bad news, particularly when it’s not about them.
Studies have shown that the more people use and post on social media the more they will post fake news, even when they know it’s untrue. Frequent, habitual users forwarded six times more fake news than occasional or new users.
Part of the reason for that is that social media platforms use algorithms that prioritize engagement when selecting which posts users see in their news feed, making dramatic but false posts a priority and rewarding those who send them out by giving them more attention.
What spreads rapidly and works well on social media is usually not the fact-checked, well-reasoned news stories that traditional news organizations strive for.
Not everyone who posts misleading or false information is doing it just because they want to stir up trouble or for self-aggrandizement. Many who were posting about the dam were simply worried about those they know downriver and wanted to get information out in case the worst happened. Others passed on bad information because they believed it was true.
I like keeping up with our grandkids by their posts on Facebook and, like most others, find some humorous posts and enjoy looking for or selling things on Marketplace or being a member of groups that have the same hobbies as mine.
But when it comes to news events, politics or a lot of other issues, the platform makes me want to ignore it.
As newspapers and other traditional media continue to decline, the online platforms will continue to gain prominence when it comes to “news” stories. And those stories will likely be more falsehoods, anger, misdirection and angst than actually trying to help people understand and learn about important issues.
It’s hard to see how anyone will be well served by that.
Tim Krohn can be contacted at tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com or 507-720-1300.