Advanced Social Media Skills Training

With the rise of disinformation on social media platforms, journalists need to be equipped with the skills to navigate and investigate these platforms effectively. The Advanced Social Media Skills training course equips journalists with the necessary skills to tackle disinformation by investigating platforms such as TikTok, Telegram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Journalists will learn how to understand the layout of each platform, find relevant information quickly, and use open source tools to further investigations.

In our research with more than 100 journalists, we found that many want to learn more about social media platforms that are typically uncovered in traditional fact checking programmes, such as Telegram, LinkedIn, and “alternative” social media such as Gab and Parler.

The course includes real-world activities that challenge journalists to verify live misinformation on social media, allowing them to enhance their skills and problem solving abilities in real-world scenarios.

Investigate TikTok:

1. Understand the layout of TikTok’s interface
2. Explore TikTok trends quickly and efficiently
3. Dig deeper into profiles and videos on TikTok
4. Search the TikTok platform without having an account

Investigate Telegram:

1. Understand the layout of Telegram
2. Find groups and channels on Telegram
3. Use open source tools to further your investigation into Telegram’s groups and channels

Investigate YouTube:

1. Understand YouTube’s impact on disinformation
2. Investigate videos and channels
3. Find relevant videos quickly and easily
4. Search archived YouTube videos
5. Search YouTube by location and investigate videos’ metadata

Investigate LinkedIn:

1. Investigate LinkedIn profiles using advanced search
2. Investigate companies on LinkedIn
3. Use open source tools to find people and companies on LinkedIn

Investigating the “Alt Web”:

1. Understand how “alternative” social media differs from “big tech”
2. Investigate Gab, Parler, Gettr, and 4chan
3. Understand safe research practices for these platforms