The popular forum website reddit came under the spotlight during the first few days after the events of the Boston Marathon bombing as it showed how powerful social media and crowdsourcing could be . Reddit was able to help many victims of the bombing as they sent relief and some even opened up their homes , all being communicated very efficiently on their site . However , Reddit soon came under fire after they started to crowdsource information on the possible perpetrators of the bombing . While the FBI received thousands of photos from average citizens , the website also started to focus on crowdsourcing their own investigation , with the information that they were crowdsourcing . Eventually , Reddit members claimed to have found 4 bombers but all were innocent , including a college student who had committed suicide a few days before the bombing . The problem was exacerbated when the media also started to rely on Reddit as their source for information , allowing the misinformation to spread almost nationwide . The FBI has since warned the media to be more careful of where they are getting their information but Reddit 's investigation and its false accusations opened up questions about what should be crowdsourced and the unintended consequences of irresponsible crowdsourcing
Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Marathon bombing
Crowdsourcing