This man in the red shirt wasn't cradling his dead girlfriend. Picture: Getty Images via Boston Globe Source: Getty Images
- Heart-wrenching tales from Boston proven to be fakes
- Man in red, little girl the most popular hoax stories
- It's not all bad: The heart-warming, true stories
THE best and worst thing about these Boston Marathon stories is that they're fake.
It didn't take long for the powers of social media to work as a force for good, helping people find their loved ones, spreading messages of hope and delivering help for those who needed it.
But in equal measure, Twitter, Facebook and viral media websites were used to fool good-hearted people into believing completely untrue stories.
This man in red was one such victim of misinformation. The popular photo of him helping a woman on the side of the road was twisted by the internet machine.
The story goes that the woman was his girlfriend, that she died, and that he'd planned to propose after the race. People were asked to wear red. That story helped the picture to be shared and 'Liked' hundreds of thousands of times.
But it's not true at all. The woman didn't die, and he didn't know her. He was just helping out a stranger.
Here's another fake story:
Another fake. This photo was from a 5km charity run in Virginia. Source: Supplied
That little girl didn't die. She didn't even run at the Boston Marathon. She's too young.
This photo is actually from the Joe Cassella 5km run in Virginia.
The @HopeForBoston then posted another fake photo of a boy running, claiming it was the eight-year-old killed in the bombing.
Another fake twitter account @_BostonMarathon was set up shortly after the bombing, claiming it would donate $1 for every retweet.
Within minutes of the explosions, a group of people also moved to cash in on the tragedy by registering related web domain names, including Bostonexplosion.com, bostonmarathonbombs.com, pray4boston.com and bostonmarathonrelief.com.
This is a fake. Source: Supplied
But just as the bombing showed the worst side of social media, it also showed the spirit of those who were disgusted by the fake stories.
One person @DerekAggie06 tweeted: "If you're creating a fake Twitter account looking for RTs right now, there's a special place in hell for you."
Another @hollyniemiec said: "its actually disgusting that someone would make a fake twitter account and exploit this tragedy just to get retweets."
Twitter suspended the fake Boston Marathon account. The real Boston Marathon account is @BostonMarathon.
- with Rod Chester
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