Last week, two people named Armstrong made headline news: Lance and Neil (unrelated). Lance Armstrong had announced that he was no longer going to fight doping allegations from the USADA, which prompted the sensational headline of “Lance Armstrong to be stripped of his 7 Tour de France titles.” Not more than a few days later, historic astronaut Neil Armstrong passed away at the age of 82.

As Twitter has become the medium to find your news first and express your opinion, the memorial posts started to pour in:

 

 

 

Whether or not these represent jokes in poor taste, serious confusion by the authors, or a complete failure in the schooling systems around the world, the same conclusion can be had: please slow down and get the details right. The confusion was happening enough for this condescending test to be made: Armstrong Name Test.

Yes, Twitter is full of breaking news posts. Yes, depending on how many people you follow you can see 60 tweets per minute. But please, take the time to read the 140 characters or less in a message and make sure you know who you are referring to, especially in a memorial message! Much has been written about the public’s eroding trust in news from social media networks, as well as traditional media sources. Last week was not a step forward.

For the record, Lance Armstrong is still alive and well and pulling in more money than ever to his cancer research funding; Neil is resting peacefully with the title of “First Man to Walk on the Moon.” #RIPNeil

 

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