MICROBLOG ERA: China's microblog users are expected to reach 65 million by the end of 2010 as Sina.com has popularized this kind of Internet service since 2009 (CFP)

Liu Jun was shocked to read a microblog post saying the famous Hong Kong novelist Jin Yong (Louis Cha) was dead in hospital on the evening of December 6. The short news item gave the time and the name of the hospital. He thought it was real and re-posted the post.

"I was feeling so sorrowful and sad as Jin Yong is among my favorite writers of all time," said Liu, a third-year university student in Qingdao, Shandong Province, who is an active microblogger on t.sina.com, China's largest microblogging service operator. He made a phone call to one of his friends later to notify him about the sad news, but was told it wasn't true.

Liu then went to Internet search engines to discover the news was indeed fake. He had mixed feelings of both happiness and worry. "It's good to know Jin Yong is not dead, but the false news undermines my trust in the credibility of microblogs," Liu told Beijing Review.

It is probably impossible to track down the original source, but the circulation of the false news on t.sina.com exploded after it was re-posted by the official microblog of the reputable China News Week magazine, whose three editors later resigned due to the scandal.

There is nothing new about false reports on the demise of celebrities. However the alleged death of Jin Yong became a major event, which has highlighted the microblog phenomenon in China.

Netizens believe that the news first came from the BBS forum themed Jin Yong at Baidu.com, this was among the earliest known reports. The brief "news" said, "Jin Yong, date of birth March 22, 1924, expired at 19:07 pm, December 6 at the Saint Maria Hospital in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong due to a combination of encephalitis and callus hydropsy." Although the post contained a mere 46 Chinese characters, it drew unprecedented attention due to the esteemed position of Jin Yong among readers of martial arts novels.

Spreading like virus

Later the post on this Internet forum was re-posted onto microblog host Twitter and other social networking websites Renren.com before it reached t.sina.com. According to a netizen identified as "Chumojun," he was the first to relay the information from Renren.com to the t.sina.com. Soon afterward other microbloggers helped spread Chumojun's post around. But, Chumojun had specified his post by stating "seeking confirmation. Not known if this is true or false."

Not long after the short "news" appeared on the official microblog of the China News Week magazine. The editor running the microblog saw the post and slightly edited it by adding "Instantaneous News" and "He was 86-years-old" in the beginning and at the end of the original version to make the post look more like professional news. Thus, unverified information awaiting confirmation became a news story.

NOT DEAD: Jin Yong, one of China's most influential martial arts novelists, was rumored to be dead through microblog news (CFP)

Hours later, it was confirmed Jin Yong was still alive by some acquaintances of him via microblogs. China News Week was not the only one who forwarded the story. Many other well-known celebrity bloggers and media workers also did it. But as a news outlet, China News Week did the most damage. Chumojun has 2,000 plus microblog followers whereas China News Week has more than 300,000 followers. Its mistake has led to the resignation of China News Week's deputy editor in chief and two Web editors because they forwarded the rumor without proper fact-checking.

Luckily there were other microbloggers to clarify the fake news. Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV's reporter Rose Luqiu said on her microblog that Jin Yong was attending a ceremony for an honorary doctorate degree at Shu Yan College the day before. Her post appeared less than 30 minutes after China News Week issued its instantaneous news bulletin.