News media are embedded in the ecosystem of social media and video streaming: they create online documentaries and maintain official social media accounts where they share their content. In addition, they encourage their readers to share content on these platforms through one-click 'share' buttons.
Use theS.I.F.T. method to check the reliability of your online sources:
S - Stop
I - Investigate the Source
F - Find Better Coverage
T - Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to the Original Context
Evaluating Digital Platform Content
In addition to the evaluating criteria mentioned earlier, like authority and accuracy, when you use sources from digital platforms like social media (Twitter, Facebook) or video streaming (YouTube, Twitch), you should also consider the following:
Content: Film clips, or documentary interviews, communicate meaning by using a set of visual cues, a type of language that is unique to the medium. Watch the video below to understand how camera angles can express relationships within a frame:
Platform Characteristics: Twitter content is comprised of conversations between users. This characteristic gave rise to phenomena like "Twitter Trolls" and "Fake Followers". Twitch, a live-streaming platform, has a live chat component and creators are usually online live for hours, often commenting on content created on other platforms. Think about how these characteristics could affect the type of content created on these platforms.
Here are some questions to ask if you are using social media and video streaming content for your assignment:
Platform
Content - Characteristics
Questions
YouTube
Video
Algorithm
What kind of camera angles does the creator use to express relationships of power or to affect the viewer emotionally?
What kinds of suggested videos are shown in your feed next to the video?
Twitter
Text (short) - Replies
Trolls - Bots
Photos - Short Video
Are the (often highly emotional) reactions to a tweet's content genuine or generated by trolls / bots?
How can you verify if the number of followers, retweets and replies an account has received is genuine?
What kind of comments does the picture/short shared in a post generate? What do you think was the intention of the creator?
Twitch
Live Video - Sharing
If the streamer you are watching is 'reacting' to content created elsewhere, how can you verify the reliability of that content?
Do you think that the long streaming hours and the "interesting personality type" that are required to become a successful streamer, could affect the reliability of a channel's content?
