1. Public Lecture, 01.10.2012 @
Oslo and Akershus University
College of Applied Sciences
Department of Journalism
and Media Studies
Julian Ausserhofer
@boomblitz
Fact Checking on Social Media
Tales and Hacks

2. 2
Julian Ausserhofer
‣@boomblitz

3. 3
Fact Checking on Social Media:
Today‘s Agenda
✓Some Background
✓User Generated Videos & Photos
✓Twitter

4. 4
Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus
Johann Jacob Philipp Franz
Joseph Sylvester Freiherr
von und zu Guttenberg
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg

5. 5
#guttenplag
Crowdsourced fact checking
http://de.guttenplag.wikia.com

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“Publics are communicating […] through
complex networks that are bottom-up,
top-down as well as side-to-side.”
(Ito, 2008: 3)

7. 7
Unverified information,
gossip, rumours, hoaxes, …
http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/funny/photos/hoaxphotos

8. …in emergency situations,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earthquake_damage_-_dairy.jpg

9. … in politics,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1876_Democratic_National_Convention_-_Missouri.jpg

10. … in elections,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usaid_images/5545404004/

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… in protests,
CC BY ridus.ru

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… about celebrities. CC BY David Shrankbone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ CC BY Walmart Stores http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Will_Smith_2011,_2.jpg
File:Eddie_Murphy_by_David_Shankbone.jpg CC BY Wikipediology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lil_Kim_Party.jpg
CC BY Agência Brasil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cuba.FidelCastro.02.jpg CC BY jdeeringdavis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
→ Celebrities incorrectly declared dead on Twitter CC BY Renan Facciolo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Kanye_West_SWU_Music_%26_Arts_Festival_2011_(crop).jpg
File:Morgan_Freeman_@_69th_Annual_Golden_Globes_Awards_01_crop.jpg
CC BY Alan Light http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oprah_Winfrey_(2004).jpg
CC BY Conny Liegl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Patrick_Swayze_2006.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Denzel_Washington_cropped.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Cosby_(2010).jpg

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Why?

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Some stories are “too good to be true“.
(Bradshaw, 2011)
http://www.thepoke.co.uk/index.php/2010/12/08/bad-santa-sends-xmas-message-to-harrods/

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Ad Hoc Publics
#ouruni
#ukriots
#wikileaks
#arabspring
#occupywallstreet
(Bruns & Burgess, 2011)

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Filter Bubbles
(Pariser, 2011) CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Julian Ausserhofer, Axel Maireder & Axel Kittenberger http://twitterpolitik.net

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User Generated
Videos and Photos
#How to verify them.

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✓ Check Uploader's history, location. Is he/she a scraper?
✓ Use Google street view/maps/satellite to verify locations.
✓ Consult other news sources or validated user content.
✓ Background noises? Weather? Landscape?
✓ Monitor social media traffic: Who shares it?
✓ Develop and maintain relationships with the community.
(Little, 2011)
http://youtu.be/FmhV-ymivJk

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Photos: EXIF Data
(Carvin, 2011)
http://storify.com/acarvin/how-to-debunk-a-geopolitical-rumor-with-your-twitt2

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Reverse Image Search

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Twitter
#How to find sources.
#How to verify tweets.

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Raid on Osama bin Laden I
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bin_laden_image_2.png

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Raid on Osama bin Laden II
http://tweetlibrary.com/damon/osamaraidlivetweets

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Raid on Osama bin Laden III
http://tweetlibrary.com/damon/osamaraidlivetweets

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#How to find sources.

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Have a trustable profile.
✓ Get a trustworthy Twitter handle: Short and memorable, no underlines.
✓ State your full name.
✓ Define the topics you tweet about.

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Be reachable.
✓ Email address, mobile number.
✓ Anonymous contact form.
✓ Provide links and affiliations that build authority and trust.

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Search
✓ Use operators and the advanced search.
✓ Search for keywords and hashtags, people and places in different
languages and scopes.
http://search.twitter.com

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Follow the sources of important others in the field.
(Saldivar, 2012)
https://twitter.com/paulbradshaw/following

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http://wefollow.com http://twellow.com
Useful services

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#How to verify tweets.

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1. Check the profile

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www.WhenDidYouJoinTwitter.com

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✓ When was the account last updated?
✓ How many followers and followees?
✓Who were the first followers?
✓ How many listings?
✓ How many addressings?
✓ Is there a profile picture?
✓ How many fake followers?
(Bradshaw, 2011; Silverman, 2011b)

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Check for mutual Twitter users.

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2. Check the person
Google him/her

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3. Crowdsource

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(Silverman, 2011a)

39. 39
Nelson Mandela‘s Twitter death I
(Zarrella, 2011)
(Silverman, 2011a) CC BY South Africa The Good News / www.sagoodnews.co.za
http://danzarrella.com/anatomy-of-a-twitter-death-hoax-rip-nelson-mandela.html#

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Nelson Mandela‘s Twitter death II
(Zarrella, 2011)
http://danzarrella.com/anatomy-of-a-twitter-death-hoax-rip-nelson-mandela.html#

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Guardian: Reading the Riots
(Dant & Richards, 2011) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2011/dec/07/london-riots-twitter

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Conclusion

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Everything is fakeable.
Check, double-check, triple-check.

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Final Decision: Publish or not?
1. How urgent is it?
2. What is the damage in case of falsehood?
(Verweij, 2012)

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You
You
The network has a self-correcting mechanism.
But do not rely on it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2011/dec/07/london-riots-twitter

46. #tusen takk
Julian Ausserhofer
julian.ausserhofer@fh-joanneum.at
@boomblitz http://ausserhofer.net

47. Sources
47
✓Bradshaw, P. (2011, January 26). Content, Context and Code: Verifying Information Online. Online Journalism Blog.
Retrieved from http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2011/01/26/verifying-information-online-content-context-code/
✓Bruns, A., & Burgess, J. (2011). The Use of Twitter Hashtags in the Formation of Ad Hoc Publics. Presented at the
European Consortium for Political Research Conference, Reykjavik. Retrieved from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/46515/
✓Carvin, A. (2011). Israeli weapons In Libya? How @acarvin and his Twitter followers debunked sloppy journalism. Storify.
Retrieved from http://storify.com/acarvin/how-to-debunk-a-geopolitical-rumor-with-your-twitt2
✓Dant, A., & Richards, J. (2011, December 8). Behind the Rumours: How We Built Our Twitter Riots Interactive. Guardian
Datablog. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/dec/08/twitter-riots-interactive
✓Ito, M. (2008). Introduction. In K. Varnelis (Ed.), Networked Publics (pp. 1–14). Cambridge, London: MIT Press.
✓Little, M. (2011, May 20). The Human Algorithm. Storyful Blog. Retrieved from http://blog.storyful.com/2011/05/20/the-
human-algorithm-2/
✓Pariser, E. (2011). The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. New York: The Penguin Press.
✓Saldivar, S. (2012, July 12). How Journalists Can Find Sources on Twitter. Retrieved from http://stevesaldivar.com/blog/
2012/07/12/how-journalists-can-find-sources-on-twitter/
✓Silverman, C. (2011a, April 8). Is This the World’s Best Twitter Account? Columbia Journalism Review – Behind the News.
Retrieved from http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/is_this_the_worlds_best_twitter_account.php
✓Silverman, C. (2011b, June 3). Best Practices for Social Media Verification. Columbia Journalism Review – The News
Frontier. Retrieved from http://www.cjr.org/the_news_frontier/best_practices_for_social_medi.php
✓Verweij, P. (2012, January 23). 7 Best Practices For Verifying Tweets. d3-media. Retrieved from http://d3-
media.blogspot.co.at/2012/01/7-best-practices-for-verifying-tweets.html
✓Zarrella, D. (2011, January). Anatomy of a Twitter Death Hoax: “Rip Nelson Mandela.” Retrieved from http://
danzarrella.com/anatomy-of-a-twitter-death-hoax-rip-nelson-mandela.html#