Here, we provide interesting links from around the web that discuss issues regarding the verification of content from social media: What tools, services and initiatives are there? Who is doing what? What’s the state of affairs regarding eyewitness media and related issues? Here is our list for this week.

How to reveal hidden connections with Google Analytics ID’s

Ever thought about how to find hidden links between seemingly unconnected websites? Lawrence Alexander has. The social science student and contributor to the Bellingcat platform uses the urge of website owners to monitor their traffic to find these links. For example, Google Analytics ID’s can quite easily be found in the code of a website. And once you have that ID you can check if the same code is being used on other websites. After that, some digging is needed to check the information you have found. Alexander explains the process in detail in his article.

Source: Bellingcat

Get to the heart of things with Twitter lists

Here is an(other) excellent article by Malachy Browne on how Twitter lists will get you to the heart of a story. The Managing Editor and Europe Anchor of Reported.ly explains how to get detailed information without the noise of popular hashtags. He also shows you how to find valuable lists and how to merge them with your own lists.

Source: First Draft

Verification Video Magazine

France 24 journalists Ségolène Malterre and Wassin Nasr have posted this video about verification of Social Media content. You might have missed it during your summer holidays. Below, they explain in a short video magazine how to research Social Media content like a real … journalist.

Source: Ségolène Malterre

TinEye still works like a charm

Over my summer holidays one of my favourite image research tools, TinEye, has changed its interface. It still works like a charm. Here is a short tutorial for those who are not yet familiar with TinEye. Something you should not miss out on if you have anything to do with image verification.

Source: TinEye blog

Individuals as data controllers

In this paper, Brendan van Alsenooi writes: „The role of individuals has shifted. In less than 30 years, individuals have transcended their role as passive ‘data subjects’ to become actively involved in the creation, distribution and consumption of personal data. Unless an exemption or derogation applies, individuals are – at least in theory – subject to data protection law.“ Furthermore, he explores how law needs to be changed so that we can keep using new technologies freely but also protect the privacy of others at the same time.

Source: @RevealEU

Adding value to journalism using trending stories

Working with trending stories on Social Media can be really challenging. They can give us lots of insight but they can also confuse and disarrange. In this article, Catalina Albeanu explains how the BBC Trending team is tackling these challenges. How they do not only focus on Twitter and Facebook but also on the Chinese and Russian counterparts and even on networks like Snapchat and WhatsApp.

As we have already heard before, pulling news from Social Media is not always about being first. “In a way we don’t mind being a bit later than everybody else, as long as we’re adding something,” explains Mukul Devichand, BBC journalist and founder of the BBC Trending team.

Source: Journalism.co.uk