Fukushima, Facebook and Feeds: Informing the Public in a Digital Era

The now-ubiquitous presence of the Internet and social media like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs enabled misinformation about the nuclear disaster at Fukushima to spread at the speed of electricity. It also allowed the public rapid access to large amounts of knowledge from unconventional classes of experts, and a unique opportunity to learn about nuclear power. The benefits of online information dissemination greatly outweigh the costs associated with Internet cacophony.