Social media as an investigative journalism tool

Megan Knight
University of Central Lancashire
maknight@uclan.ac.uk
@meganknight

February 3 2014 University College Oslo

Social media a brief conceptual understanding

Social media as publishing platformLow barrier to entry

Reliant on social capital

Unpredictable response

Social media as connection toolTension between anonymous and known connections

Connections being monetised

Verification

Social media as public recordAccess to data

Reliability

Speed

Networks and their characteristics

PersistenceOrkut, Bebo, Friendster...

Facebook?

TransparencyLinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook

Copyright and privacy

Choosing a network

Where your audience is

Where your sources are

What you can access

Relationships and respect

Functions of the network

Profile-raisingRespect and credibility

CrowdsourcingHelpmeinvestigate

Verification

Data gatheringPublic application

Using the API

Verification and crowdsourcing

Andy Carvin's Arab SpringUse of networks and friends

Social capital

HelpmeinvestigateNetworks of related people

Story ideas

Verification

Astroturfing

Examples and tools

http://onemilliontweetmap.com/

Advanced tools

Twitter APITAGS 5.1

YourTwapperKeeper

Nodes and network analysisNodeXl

Final word

plus a change, plus c'est la mme chose

Be where your audience and sources are

Know who you are speaking to

Let them know who they are speaking to

Be transparent

Be fair

Notes and references

Knight and Cook: Social Media for Journalists: Principles and Practice. Sage, 2013

BBC College of Journalism

Andy Carvin: Distant Witness

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p006hmlx

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

mashe.hawksey.info/2013/02/twitter-archive-tagsv5/#