Social Media can provide instant news faster than traditional news outlets or sources and can be a great wealth of information, but there is also an ever increasing need to verify and determine the accuracy of this information. Here are some items to consider that can help determine authenticity:
•Location of the source - are they in the place they are tweeting or posting about?
•Network - who is in their network and who follows them? Do I know this account?
•Content - Can the information be corroborated from other sources?
•Contextual updates - Do they usually post or tweet on this topic? If so, what did past or updated posts say? Do they fill in more details?
•Age - What is the age of the account in question? Be wary of recently created accounts.
•Reliability - Is the source of information reliable?
