An overview of tips, tricks, pitfalls and workflows for verifying images and videos from eyewitnesses on social media, presented by Storyful at News Xchange in Berlin on Oct. 30, 2015.

1. @ainekerr
@mjenkins

2. Pioneering social verification for news!
Discover
Verify
Acquire
Journalists use 12-step
process to verify the
asset, the uploader and
authenticity of the
content
Technology filters the
social web to uncover
the most impactful
stories
clearing all rights and
permissions
for using on brand and
publisher channels

3. The importance of verification!
SOURCE
NEWS
RESULT

4. Verification: The Checklist
The Source
Time and Date
Location

5. Verification:
The
Source
• Does their account look real?
• What is their connection to the story?
• How often do they post?
• Where do they post from?
• When was the account created?
• What is their upload history?
• What can we find out on Spokeo/
Accurint/etc.?
• Have you searched their username?
• Can you find other linked accounts?
• Have you searched the unique Video
ID on Twitter/FB etc.?

6. SOURCE
• Spokeo.com
• Whitepages.com
• Pipl.com
• 123people.com
• Webmii.com
• Topsy.com
• Snapbird
• Who.is

7. Verification: The Location
• What is the source’s connection?
• Has it been automatically geo-
located?
• Can we geo-locate images against
Google Earth/Google Maps?
• Do registration plates, signs,
storefronts, etc. indicate country or
state?
• Do accents or dialects indicate
location?

8. LOCATION
• GeoSocialFootprint.com
• YouGetSignal.com
• Google Earth
• Wikimapia

9. Verifica8on:
The
Date
• What is the actual time of upload,
bearing in mind timestamp ‘rules’ are
different on all the platforms?
• Does the information corroborate
against other reports or sources?
• Are there shadows that tally with the
time of day?
• Do weather reports corroborate with
the date of the video or picture?
• If you are looking at a photo, can you
check the EXIF data?

10. DATE
• Wolfram Alpha
• Topsy.com
• Snapbird.org

11. Checklist: Ensuring You Find Your Eyewitness !
Date: Timestamp, Other
corroborating uploads and
sources/reports, EXIF data.
Source: Account history,
Linked websites, Linked
social profiles, Account
profile pic reverse image
searches.
Location: Geo data, Google
Satellite imagery, Google
maps, Weather reports via
Wolfram Alpha.
Verification – Key Principles
Find Corroborating
Content
Conduct Digital
Footprint Analysis
Undertake Frame by
Frame Analysis

12. Best Practices: Check EXIF Data

13. Best Practices: Check for Scrapes

14. Example: Hurricane Sandy Images, 2012
EXIF data showed this image was from an Epson scanner,
the image was determined to be from an old print.

15. Best Practices: Reverse Image Searching
Google Reverse Image
Search at
images.google.com
Tineye.com

16. Case Study #1: “Looting” in Baltimore, 2015

17. Case Study #1: “Looting” in Baltimore, 2015

19. Case Study #2: TransAsia Airways Crash, Taiwan

20. Case Study #2: TransAsia Airways Crash, Taiwan

21. Case Study #2: TransAsia Airways Crash, Taiwan

22. Case Study #2: TransAsia Airways Crash, Taiwan

23. Case Study #2: TransAsia Airways Crash, Taiwan

24. Case Study #2: TransAsia Airways Crash, Taiwan

25. Case Study #2: TransAsia Airways Crash, Taiwan

26. Case Study #3: Social backgrounding Dylann Roof

27. • Storyful.com
• Verificationjunkie.com
• The Verification Handbook at
verificationhandbook.com
• Emergent.Info
• EyewitnessMediaHub.com
• First Draft Coalition
• Facebook.com/FBNewswire
• YouTube.com/newswire
Verification Resources hecklist: Ensuring You Find Your
Eyewitness !

28. @ainekerr
aine.kerr@storyful.com
aine.kerr@storyful.com
mandy.jenkins@storyful.com
Get these slides at bit.ly/storyfulnx15