Twitter is the primary source of news, gossip, information, and misinformation for millions of people worldwide.
But how does information spread on Twitter, and how can you judge its reliability?
Oftentimes accounts aren’t run by people at all.
Luckily, there’s a tool that can help.
As its name suggests, Hoaxy was designed with misinformation in mind.
Results are displayed as a graph, and as an easy-to-understand color-coded diagram.
you might even play animations to better judge the spread of information over time.
If you don’t have one already, it’seasy to create a Twitter account.
Alternatively, you’re free to import data.
The example given by Hoaxy to demonstrate how the search works is “vaccines”.
On the left, you could see the popularity of an article over time.
An arrow indicates from which account the tweet or retweet originated.
In the center of our demonstration diagram is the MundoLinuxBot account, which retweeted the post five times.
You’ll also see the names of the accounts from which MundoLinuxBot has retweeted this particular link.
It can be a vital tool in battling potential misinformation and finding the true source of rumors.
You should use it carefully, and treat its output as indicative only.
If you do come across malicious misinformation on Twitter, follow our guide to effectively countering it.
