Jason Mraz Deade? Death Hoax Sparks Social Media Frenzy

Jazz musician Jason Mraz was the latest celebrity to be 'killed off' by the Internet. The bizarre rumor is said to have originally come from a Facebook page that was titled "RIP Jason Mraz." The page caught fire eventually compiling over 1 million likes before spreading to Twitter and other social media offshoots. The rumors gained ground on Twitter when the hashtag "#RIPJasonMraz" became one of the top trending subjects.

The initial page cited that there was a credible source that had given them the information about Jason Mraz's death hoax. The page posted, "At about 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday (September 17, 2014), our beloved singer Jason Mraz passed away. Jason Mraz was born on June 23, 1977 in Mechanicsville. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page."

It is unclear what the point of creating a death hoax is all about. There are various universities who study social media and they task their students with coming up with hoaxes that can then be used to research social media functionality. The ethical properties of such an act are questionable at best, but they do serve to validate a point that says the Internet is taken far too seriously.

In most credible journalistic institutions, there is a minimum of two or three sources that are required before a story is published. The Internet on the other hand can act off of pure speculation or worse, just a prank. Every time there is a prank like this, it just goes to show that most Internet users do not check sources or fact check the information that they are presented with.

Mraz never gave the death hoax any thought, as he instead tweeted about his upcoming Five Boroughs Tour. Whether it is good press or bad press, the commonality is that attention is always a good thing for a performer. That might explain why so many celebrities involve themselves in bizarre acts of behavior. Jason Mraz is alive and well and he will continue to be so until the next death hoax decides to play itself out on social media.