TwitterTrails has gotten a facelift, and we’ve moved on a new server but the http://twittertrails.com/ alias still works!
Some of the key changes are highlighted in this post.
All posts by Samantha Finn
TwitterTrails Metrics: Spread and Skepticism
Spread and Skepticism are the two metrics used by TwitterTrails to gauge the impact of a story on Twitter, and Twitter’s reaction to the validity or truthfulness of the story. This posting gives information of what these metrics are and examples of their usage.
In this post we discuss the spread and skepticism of three claims, all of which are publicly viewable on TwitterTrails: the claim that people on welfare will receive free cars, the claim that the wife of the police chief in Ferguson wrote a racist post on her Facebook account, and the claim that Robin Williams died on August 11th, 2014.
Continue reading TwitterTrails Metrics: Spread and Skepticism
Girl Shoots Gun Instructor
On August 25th, 2014, a 9 year old girl accidentally shot and killed her gun instructor while learning how to fire an Uzi. It sounds outrageous enough to be a hoax–an article from the Onion–but various high profile news media outlets confirm the tragic shooting, which captures international attention for days following the incident.
Investigating this story using the Trails system reveals what we would expect to see from a true story: dozens of verified accounts tweeting about it, receiving hundreds of retweets. However, we also find a persistent though low profile attempt on Twitter to disprove this story. In this post, we study the emergence of a spam-like conspiracy theory surrounding the accidental shooting.
Explore this story on TwitterTrails, or read on for our observations. Continue reading Girl Shoots Gun Instructor