Social media & Credibility and

verificationZHAO JIA LIN

QIU JU Shangguan Jinyuan

How to verify & when to publish -- Case study of Philadelphia firework show

Verification skills further discussed -- Employment of Google image & Google earth

Credibility of social media

Layout

When cops and twitter tell different storiesFireworks show in Philadelphia marred by a

shooting?

Police: no shooting Twitter: heard gunshots

On-site “gunshot” video from readers

About 7 seconds into the video, there are some loud pops which sound like “gunshots”

Skepticism1. Could it have just been a nearby firecracker that alarmed

the crowd?

2. Why had no camera phone pictures of medics surrounding a victim emerged?

3. Could it have started with a small amount of confused people and spread from there?

Let’s see how Phil daily reporter handled the whole thing

1.Contact tweeter users 2.Scanner or cam review

Let’s see how Phil daily finally reported the news

Evaluating credibility2. Ask: Was the source in a position to know what he claims to know? Much social media misinformation comes from sources who are mistaken, not outright liars. －－ Determine if he witnessed the event firsthand or is passing along hearsay. Does this person live nearby or know the people involved? －－ Consider whether the source made assumptions. Did he really see fire or just smoke? －－ Think critically about whether the source could have missed something important. Was she driving by (less reliable) or standing at the scene?

1. Consider the social history of the source.3. Seek official corroboration. Do police, firefighters, traffic cameras or any other official sources of information back up the claim?

4. Seek social corroboration. Are other social network users posting similar, independent reports from the same location?

Emergency News Breaks★ Todays networked world, people also

intentionally spread fake information and rumors★ In a disaster, whether its cause is natural or

human, the risks of inaccuracy are amplified. It can literally be a matter of life and death

★ Its hard to arrive in the scene at the first time★ Journalists and humanitarian and emergency

works must become adept at using social media and other sources to gather, triangelate and verify the oftern conflicting information ermerging during a disaster.

The essence of verification

•Resourcefulness,persistence,skepticsim and skill•Sources’s knowledge , reliability and honesty •Documentation

Case study:Small plane lands in the expressway ★ Use TweetDeck to

monitor update

Verifying Images: Google Images

Verifying Images: Google Images

Verifying location using:Google Earth

★ An explosion reported in Sultanahmet Square, Istanbul

★ Eyewitness images soon surfaced on social media★ Use Google earth to search the landscape of the Square

and compare with the image★ The landscape does not match★ The burning building is next a highway

Verifying location using:Google Earth

★ A search across social networks for “Fire” And “Istanbul”

★ More images appear ★ Image provide first clue-A subway named

Gulsuyu

Verifying location using:Google Earth

★ A search across social networks for “Fire” And “Istanbul”

★ More images appear ★ Get the latitude and longitude

★ Type the location in Google earth

Verifying location using:Google Earth

★ The building is 17 Km from the reported site of the explosion

Credibility of social media

Do you trust social media?

According to a recent study by AP-NORC (Center for Public Affairs Research) and The American Press Institute, different platforms have different credibility.

It shows that social sites like LinkedIn and Twitter, have more credible and trustworthy content than those sites like Facebook and Snapchat. it turns out that where that post is distributed, and how it is distributed play a key part in whether people believe the content is true.

From the survey, 86% of respondents said they got their news from Facebook, but only 15% trust what they read on the platform.

Conclusion: Although most of people chose social media as their sources of news, few of them would trust that news.

Factors which influence the credibility of social media

In the same study, 66% took the information publisher into consideration when judging whether the information shared on Facebook was credible or not, which means the reputation of the person who shared the messages is a key external factor.

Criteria of credibility of social media

Accuracy – Getting facts and information rightTimeliness – Having information and facts that are either new or up-to-dateClarity – Presenting the facts and information in a clear and objective manner

Be careful!From the study of in the academic journal Journalism Studies, we can see audiences rated interviews, stake-outs and press conference as considerably more credible than social media sources.

From their survey, if you can add a verification information in your news reports when you use social media sources, perceptions of credibility would be increased. Without the statement, respondents rated the journalist’s practices a 3.51. With the statement, average ratings increased to 3.85. But even if including verification information, people still found social media sources less reliable than others.

Conclusion:Social media are more appropriate to be a way to collect news clues, rather than platforms to find evidences because of its low credibility.

How to verify● Verifying sources – speak to them and cross reference answers with

social data

● Verifying sources – look at social media history across platforms

● Use Whois tools to verify websites

● Use online tools to examine evolution of images (including TinEye, Google Images)

● Question edited footage of video

● …...

Reference

● http://www.poynter.org/2011/how-to-verify-and-when-to-publish-news-accounts-posted-on-social-media/138495/

● http://media.sohu.com/20160315/n440483321.shtml

● https://firstdraftnews.com/resource/how-to-verify-images-like-a-pro-with-google-earth/

thank you!