scholarly journals Mapping Nefarious Social Media Actors to Speed-up Covid-19 Fact-checking

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Giglietto ◽  
Manolo Farci ◽  
Giada Marino ◽  
Serena Mottola ◽  
Tommaso Radicioni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Prototype Tool ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Information Operations ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
The University

This report presents the outcomes of a project aimed at developing and testing a prototype tool that supports and speeds-up the work of fact-checkers and de-bunkers by surfacing and ranking potentially problematic information circulated on social media with a content-agnostic approach. The tool itself is the result of a multi-year research activity carried on within the Mapping Italian News Research Program of the University of Urbino Carlo Bo to study the strategies, tactics and goals of information operations aimed at manipulating the Italian public opinion by exploiting the vulnerabilities of the contemporary media ecosystem. This research activity led to developing original studies, public reports, new methods, maps and tools employed to study the activity of Italian nefarious social media actors aimed at amplifying the reach and impact of problematic information by coordinating their efforts. Tracking these actors proved instrumental to observe the “infodemic” unraveling during the early days of COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. Combining this existing knowledge with a range of original tools and data sources provided by Meta’s Facebook Open Research Initiative (Fort) and by The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter, the report: documents those early days by highlighting a list of widely viewed and interacted links circulated on Facebook; traces the establishment, growth and evolution of Italian covid-skeptic coordinated networks on Facebook; presents a comprehensive and updated map of the activities performed by these networks of nefarious social media actors; unveils a set of original tactics and strategies employed by these actors to adjust their operations to the mitigation efforts adopted by social media platforms to reduce the spread of problematic information; describes the circulation of three specific piece of problematic information; provides an overview of the outcomes of the testing phase (carried out in collaboration with Facta.news) of a prototype tool that surfaces and ranks potentially problematic information circulated on social media with a content-agnostic approach.

scholarly journals Selfies as expressively authentic identity performance

First Monday ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linh Nguyen ◽  
Kim Barbour
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

This paper explores whether or not our online social media persona is viewed as authentic. The selfie is a fundamental part of the structure of the online identity for young people in today’s digital world. The relationship between an individual’s self-identity in the physical face-to-face environment was analysed and compared to a carefully constructed, modified virtual representation in a selfie posted on social media platforms. Data was obtained through four focus groups at the University of Adelaide. Two key theoretical frameworks provide a basis for this study: Erving Goffman’s concept of the self as a performance, and Charles Horton Cooley’s concept of the looking glass self. In examining the focus group discussions in light of these two frameworks as well as associated literature, we conclude that the authenticity of the selfie as a way of visualising a social media persona is subjective and dependent on the individual posting a selfie. Ultimately, authenticity involves a degree of subjectivity. It was on this basis that focus group participants argued that selfies could be considered authentic expressions of identity.

scholarly journals Electoral Disinformation: Looking Through the Lens of Tsek.ph Fact Checks

Plaridel ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 285-295
Author(s):  
Yvonne Chua ◽  
Jake Soriano
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Fact Checking

Elections are fertile ground for disinformation. The 2019 midterm elections, like the 2016 presidential election, buttress this observation. This ugly side of electoral contests is documented by Tsek.ph, a pioneering collaborative fact-checking initiative launched by three universities and eleven newsrooms specifically for the midterms. Its repository of fact checks provides valuable insights into the nature of electoral disinformation before, during and after the elections. Clearly, electoral disinformation emanates from candidates and supporters alike, on conventional (e.g., speeches and sorties) and digital (e.g., social media) platforms. Its wide range of victims includes the media no less.

Multimodal Mapping of a University’s Formal and Informal Online Brand

2014 ◽  
pp. 120-162
Author(s):  
Shalin Hai-Jew
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Video Sharing ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
University Reputation ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Channels ◽  
The University

With the popularization of the Social Web (or Read-Write Web) and millions of participants in these interactive spaces, institutions of higher education have found it necessary to create online presences to promote their university brands, presence, and reputation. An important aspect of that engagement involves being aware of how their brand is represented informally (and formally) on social media platforms. Universities have traditionally maintained thin channels of formalized communications through official media channels, but in this participatory new media age, the user-generated contents and communications are created independent of the formal public relations offices. The university brand is evolving independently of official controls. Ex-post interventions to protect university reputation and brand may be too little, too late, and much of the contents are beyond the purview of the formal university. Various offices and clubs have institutional accounts on Facebook as well as wide representation of their faculty, staff, administrators, and students online. There are various microblogging accounts on Twitter. Various photo and video contents related to the institution may be found on photo- and video-sharing sites, like Flickr, and there are video channels on YouTube. All this digital content is widely available and may serve as points-of-contact for the close-in to more distal stakeholders and publics related to the institution. A recently available open-source tool enhances the capability for crawling (extracting data) these various social media platforms (through their Application Programming Interfaces or “APIs”) and enables the capture, analysis, and social network visualization of broadly available public information. Further, this tool enables the analysis of previously hidden information. This chapter introduces the application of Network Overview, Discovery and Exploration for Excel (NodeXL) to the empirical and multimodal analysis of a university’s electronic presence on various social media platforms and offers some initial ideas for the analytical value of such an approach.

Social Media, Interfacing Brands in Relation to the Social Media Ecosystem

2017 ◽  
pp. 132-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ze Zook ◽  
Ben Salmon
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Relational Model ◽  
Marketing Environment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Inherent Structure ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
The Impact

Much of the existing research in social media has been directed at examining the consequences of the interactive nature of the evolving medium and communication issues, with little to say about the impact of this medium on brands. Drawing on Fiske's relational model, this current chapter examines the interface between social media and brands, particularly on the breadth and the dimensions of the level of engagement. Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are revolutionising the way companies market their products. New means of interaction and dialogue are used in part because of the inherent structure and features of these social media platforms. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of the analysis for understanding of new terminology in the evolving marketing environment.

Social Media, Interfacing Brands in Relation to the Social Media Ecosystem

2021 ◽  
pp. 1271-1301
Author(s):  
Ze Zook ◽  
Ben Salmon
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Relational Model ◽  
Marketing Environment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Inherent Structure ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
The Impact

Much of the existing research in social media has been directed at examining the consequences of the interactive nature of the evolving medium and communication issues, with little to say about the impact of this medium on brands. Drawing on Fiske's relational model, this current chapter examines the interface between social media and brands, particularly on the breadth and the dimensions of the level of engagement. Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are revolutionising the way companies market their products. New means of interaction and dialogue are used in part because of the inherent structure and features of these social media platforms. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of the analysis for understanding of new terminology in the evolving marketing environment.

scholarly journals Youth-led efforts against infodemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Uakkas ◽  
O El Omrani
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Global Epidemic ◽  
Internet Radio ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Source Type ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Fact Checking

Abstract Problem The IFMSA, voicing the opinion of 1.3 million medical students from 129 countries, acknowledges the importance of health literacy in driving social change. Today, there is a global epidemic of misinformation, spreading rapidly through social media platforms and other outlets, posing a critical threat for public health due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, it threatens the possibility of slowing down the progression of the virus. The fight against such misinformation requires continuous provision of the most reliable and recent information. Description A global study was conducted by IFMSA, in collaboration with the WHO, composed of a survey to get data about all the organizations, institutions, NGOs, and other entities that focus on fact-checking and correcting misinformation about COVID-19. The survey was filled by medical students from end of April to end of May who reported name, type, scope of work, languages, primary funding source, type and source of information shared by the organization. Results We discovered 182 initiatives from 62 countries worldwide that verified information in 48 languages. Social media, internet, radio, SMS, printed media and hearsay were identified as the main sources of misinformation. Video podcasts with experts, regular social media updates and newsletters, were described as best practices, in addition to debunking myths on a regular basis and verifying statements by public figures. Also quality of fact-checking differed between initiatives. Lessons Data showed that myths and false information are spreading through different means from public figures to daily social media outlets. Fighting misinformation should use innovative and accessible approaches. There is urgent need for national initiatives and political engagement for myth-busting. IFMSA and WHO are following up by designing a platform to share fact-checking initiatives and recommendations openly, and by creating an AI system with Amazon to analyze articles in social media. Key messages Fact-checking and myth-busting are essential to limit the COVID-19 related infodemic spreading through different media and social media platforms, famous figures and others. Initiatives worldwide are doing fact-checking. Yet, the quality and quantity of available fact-checking differ between countries and there is a need for more universal good quality fact-checking.

scholarly journals Intentional or inadvertent fake news sharing? Fact-checking warnings and users’ interaction with social media content

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Ardèvol-Abreu ◽  
Patricia Delponti ◽  
Carmen Rodríguez-Wangüemert
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
False News ◽  
News Sharing

The main social media platforms have been implementing strategies to minimize fake news dissemination. These include identifying, labeling, and penalizing –via news feed ranking algorithms– fake publications. Part of the rationale behind this approach is that the negative effects of fake content arise only when social media users are deceived. Once debunked, fake posts and news stories should therefore become harmless. Unfortunately, the literature shows that the effects of misinformation are more complex and tend to persist and even backfire after correction. Furthermore, we still do not know much about how social media users evaluate content that has been fact-checked and flagged as false. More worryingly, previous findings suggest that some people may intentionally share made up news on social media, although their motivations are not fully explained. To better understand users’ interaction with social media content identified or recognized as false, we analyze qualitative and quantitative data from five focus groups and a sub-national online survey (N = 350). Findings suggest that the label of ‘false news’ plays a role –although not necessarily central– in social media users’ evaluation of the content and their decision (not) to share it. Some participants showed distrust in fact-checkers and lack of knowledge about the fact-checking process. We also found that fake news sharing is a two-dimensional phenomenon that includes intentional and unintentional behaviors. We discuss some of the reasons why some of social media users may choose to distribute fake news content intentionally.

scholarly journals PLATFORM SPECIFICITIES: THE PLATFORM BOOKS PANEL

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Ann Hendry ◽  
Katrin Tiidenberg ◽  
Crystal Abidin ◽  
D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye ◽  
Jing Zeng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
Production Organization ◽  
Large Groups

Social media platforms shape our lives on micro, meso and macro levels. They have transformed our everyday practices as individuals, or social practices as small and large groups, and have multiple, entangled impacts on rituals of democracy and cultural (re)production, organization of labor and industry. This panel brings together five papers, each by authors of recently published or forthcoming platform books. Together, the papers offer an analysis of TikTok, WeChat, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook. Because of the book-length analyses preceding the panel, we are able to distill what is distinct and recognizable about these platforms – what we call ‘platform specificities’ and demonstrate how these specificities are shaping not only the experiences of the users of those platforms, but the social media ecosystem more broadly. The panel contributes to the ongoing discussion regarding platform power, social media and ways of making sense of social media, painting in board strokes plausible future developments to keep an eye on. The extended abstract holds a panel rationale and five extended abstracts for each analyzed platform.

scholarly journals Integrating Social Media Platforms in Construction Education to Increase Student Engagement

10.29007/t4xb ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piyush Pradhananga ◽  
Mohamed Elzomor ◽  
Arif Mohaimin Sadri ◽  
Nipesh Pradhananga
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Construction Education ◽  
Box Plots ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

This study evaluates the integration of Social Media (SM) as an informal pedagogical tool to support STEM, by fostering engagement and increasing interactional competency and collaborative skills. Construction engineering education has been plagued with low engagement levels partially due to its timeworn pedagogical means and ineffective use of technology. SM platforms are convenient, and effective informal educational means that encourage engagement and interactions between peers. Nowadays, construction programs are shifting to online educational forms and this research is geared to understand the interactions between student bodies within different instructional forms. This study focuses on assessing the impact of SM related activities on students’ engagement and professional skills by integration it within Construction Management (CM) courses. The novel contribution of this research is to study the benefit of integrating SM not only for increasing student engagement but also effective communication between online and face to face CM students as well as their soft skill development. This research initiative presents paired t-test and box plots with line plots from pre and post-course surveys of 75 students. Finally, this paper highlights the challenges and lessons learned along with recommendations for transferring this pedagogy to other institutions.

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