False Prop 8 Rumor Flies Through Twitter

I’m sitting here on a pleasant Friday afternoon doing my Follow Fridays on Twitter.

And then, bam, it hits on the side rail for Trending Topics.

Prop 8.

California Supreme.

Whoa, there goes my Friday afternoon, I’m thinking. The California Supreme Court has just ruled on Prop 8, and by a first look, found it unconstitutional.

Not quite.

What happened is this: Today is the one-year anniversary of the court initially declaring the gay marriage ban as unconstitutional. A date was misread on an L.A. Times archived story, and bam, the rumor spread like wildfire that Prop 8 had been overturned.

In other words, folks, learn to double-check those dates.

For a good detailed explanation see this post by blogger Danny Sullivan.