Eds Note 10/5: It was brought to my attention that the links in this slideshow are not clickable in the embed here. I included them all below this post.
Ever see a tip that’s too good to be true (it probably is) or a photo so amazing you just can’t believe it (don’t)? Sometimes you can’t just follow your nose to know what’s good and what’s bad on the social web – so you have to be extra careful in the verification and vetting process.
Following is the presentation I gave along with Craig Silverman of Regret the Error at the Online News Association Conference on Friday, September 23.
Our presentation went over how to verify tips, facts and images gathered via social media and the web. It also has a few case studies that demonstrate why this is so important.
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Links included:
- Check how long someone has been tweeting
- See if you can find other accounts online with the info you have from the tipster. Search the username, or use Identify in Firefox, HoverMe in Chrome.
- For web info: Do a Whois lookup on the domain or check the site’s PageRank.
- For images: Check exif info or check for edits to photos
Additional Reading:
- Best practices for social media verification
- Accuracy and accountability checklist for social media
- The journalist’s guide to gutless online verification
- The human algorithm
- BBC processes for verifying social media content
- Meet Andy Carvin, verification machine
- The challenge of verifying crowdsourced information
- Resources to help journalists with accuracy and verification
Matthew K
Enjoyed the presentation. One thing I would add: Cite your sources. All too often, people steal verified/unverified information from other accounts and pass it off as their own information; only when the info is proven to be wrong do they backtrack and cite. Doesn’t work that way in journalism — cite first, especially if you want a fallback if the info turns out to be false.
Mandy
I couldn’t agree more! Thanks.