Exploring the Process of Verification through Tweets about the Boston Marathon Bombing

Social media has totally upended the way that we collect and disseminate news. However, with so much raw information being passed around, how does a person verify that the information that they've received through a tweet or other piece of social media? Through evaluation of tweets, we provide tips in how to verify information on Twitter.

1. Multiple Witness Corroboration

In the 4th movement of the Prezi, you will see, according to the social media analytics site Topsy.com what seems to be the first tweet with the hashtag "#bostonmarathon" that mentions an explosion right around the time of the bombing. This type of tweet, when explored through the lens of the information neighborhoods is known as raw information--a piece of information that has come straight from the scene, and may or may not have been verified. One of the ways that information like this can be verified is by viewing other tweets on the same subject, which is usually done through searching by a hashtag (in this case, #bostonmarathon). Other tweets on the same subject can be seen in the image behind the tweet. It is also important to note that you will want to find other original tweets on the subject, not re-tweets, which are just copies of the first tweet, noted with the RT notation.

2. Check the Source

Although every tweet is limited to 140 characters, not all tweets are created equal. If a piece of information is tweeted by a source, it can be helpful to check out the profile of the source. For instance, you can see that this group of tweets is from the site "boston.com", but it isn't until you check out the profile of the twitter account that you see that it is actually part of the Boston Globe, the largest newspaper in the area.

3. Verify from other Sources

When a story like the Boston Bombing breaks, much of the information comes fast, and it is now the news consumer's responsibility to check multiple sources of information to verify information that may or may not be true. With a sharing heavy service like twitter, it is tempting to pass along breaking information quickly, before verifying it. Some ways to do so is to check news outlets who can provide the audience with information that has gone through the journalistic process of verification, putting it in the category of news, and not raw information that can be totally heresay.