The media has not been Kanye West’s best friend since his VMA incident in September, but no outlet has proven as vicious as the world of Twitter.
West became a hot topic on Twitter and Google searches yesterday, with the phrases “RIP Kanye West” and “Kanye West RIP” generating particular steam. All were related to a false rumor that West had died in a car accident, which observers say was first generated to drive traffic to unrelated websites.
Never picked up by a credible outlet and then outright denied by those close to Kanye, including girlfriend Amber Rose, it is clear that the rumor gained traction simply due to the power of Twitter.
This has happened repeatedly on the social networking website; when celebrities for whom there is no immediate wave of buzz become trending topics, the first (and grim) thought on many users’ mind is that they passed away. This leads to “RIP” Tweets, which only brings more trending interest to the celebrity and more false assumptions that something tragic occurred.
Bob Barker, for instance, became the subject of false death rumors when he hosted an episode of WWE RAW. As those not watching RAW were unclear why Barker suddenly made waves in the world of Twitter, they initially assumed the worst–that he died.