Today's folklore is growing exponentially on the Internet. An online petition circulated throughout the Net for a while demanding the halt of dihydrogen monoxide. This chemical compund was labelled as the primary ingredient in acid rain and a major contributor to the greenhouse effect. People were furious and vociferous in spreading the word that this stuff kills. Too bad they didn't know that dihydrogen monoxide is only water.
Urban folklore can be funny, enlightening, newsworthy, bizarre and always entertaining.
Insights into the human experience are all told in our urban legends, just like Aesop and other storytellers of history told of morality, judgment and truthfulness. Often times, stories thought to be actual news turn out to be modern lore. All urban folklore. Ditto for computer viruses. There is no Lady Di virus or Bill Gates breakdown.