Coordinates and basic strategies on the network: channels and audiences

More than half of the verifiers analyzed have their own social networks. They all have a channel on Twitter, the official network of the IFCN and where most of the audiences are concentrated. According to data collected at the end of February 2021 on their own channels, practically all the media outlets exceed 15,000 followers, and some cases are around (Newtral, with 186.3k and Agencia Lupa, with 184.6k) and even exceed 200,000 (Aos Fatos, 246.9k, Chequeado with 298.5k, and Maldita, which between the general profile and the profile of Maldito Bulo exceeds 400,000 users). They also have a page on Facebook, which is directed, according to its promoters, to a middle-aged or older audience that is not present on other networks. The verification sections or units themselves, which for other networks share spaces with the media matrix, also have their own channels on Twitter and Facebook (see table 2 in the annexes). LinkedIn is also present in 21% of cases, oriented, besides sharing certain verification content, to corporate communication and networking between journalists and verifiers.

Widely used audiovisual social networks such as YouTube and Instagram are also part of the digital presence of many verifiers. While the former is conceived more as a repository from which audien- ces view content, Instagram lends itself to greater interaction and has large communities of followers (147k Agencia Lupa; 79k Aos Fatos, 38.2k Newtral, 30.3k Maldita, or 28.4k Polígrafo). Practically all independent platforms have a presence on at least one of the two, and 60% of the media outlets with verification sections also have channels on them where content linked to fact-checking is published.

In these and other channels shared with the media outlet, the verification sections or units develop some strategies to segment and facilitate direct access to the contents of their work. For example, most checking posts visually differ from the rest because they are accompanied by images with texts that correspond to the result of the check (true, false, etc.) and hashtags, sometimes fixed, such as #elVerifi- cadorLR in the Verificador de La República, which, besides its own channels on Twitter and Facebook, relies on the media outlet’s channels on these and other networks. Other strategies are the creation of video playlists about verifications in generic YouTube profiles, such as La Voz Chequea, Convoca Verifica, or Efe Verifica, or the use of highlighted stories on Instagram to share sections of hoaxes or give access to content from various formats, such as the podcast “Chequeo en Lengua” by Ojo biónico.

Some verifiers (20%) have podcasting channels on Spotify and the like, without massive follower numbers because they mostly act as repositories. In specific cases, we locate secondary channels on Pinterest, Flickr, Dailymotion, or Flipboard. Media such as Maldita or Newtral go a step further in terms of digital presence, with channels and a high number of followers on TikTok and Twitch, respec- tively, from where they generate content aimed at younger audiences.

Information flow and function of each network: between the diffusion and the generation of content

Exploring the visual and multimedia content published by the platforms analyzed on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn in comparison with those that, in their web spaces, accompany texts linked to verification (images, videos, etc.), it can be seen that in many cases are identical. They make, at most, certain adaptations in terms of size and other basic parameters for each social network, with hyperlinks to the complete information. These networks are used primarily to expand the dissemi- nation of these publications, generate traffic to their websites, and seek interaction with users.

Social video networks such as YouTube and other podcasting networks are used as repositories where innovative content produced offline can be uploaded and published, sometimes in series or grouped by lists or series according to their type or the initiative to which they correspond. These contents are also disseminated in the form of posts or tweets on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, which bring together larger audiences, and distributed with a link or embedded code from their websi- tes, either individually accompanying certain articles, or as a collection through monographic micro- sites. In cases such as La Silla Vacía, Observador, Ojo Público, or Polígrafo, periodic newsletters that certain groups of subscribers receive are also integrated. Furthermore, there are several media outlets who, when interviewed, highlight their usefulness as support resources to address queries or verifica- tion requests that certain users send, via WhatsApp or private messaging systems on social networks.

Finally, it is worth noting the use of some social networks that have their own community and are labeled as tools from which native content is generated through autonomous strategies. This would be the case of Instagram, where besides posts more similar to those of other networks, verifiers such as Chequeado use highlighted stories to include interactive content or live broadcasts about verification. Similarly, from Twitch and TikTok, Newtral and Chequeado, respectively, have been making strea- ming and informal and humorous videos on which they superimpose emoticons, animated gifs, and other graphics.

Format, theme, and content approach on online verification: catalog of practices

In terms of formats and how progress has been made, image-type resources predominate, along with audiovisual and sound ones. On the other hand, data visualizations are scarce, especially interactive/ multimedia ones, which appear mainly on the social networks of fact-checkers more oriented towards data journalism and with specialized profiles.

Source: https://bit.ly/3lXgPvd

Among the content on social networks directly or indirectly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences, we find different approaches. Extensive content abounds on the verification process, by way of explainers in various formats, based on slow journalism and explanatory journalism. And on the other hand, synthesized or curated contents based on the potential of social network communica- tion, such as infographics or video summaries, are also frequent. Both typologies have an informative and didactic approach. We also locate information on services (guidelines to prevent Covid-19, how vaccines work, etc.), along with tips for detecting fake news and explanations to prevent health misin- formation.

They are almost always published in Spanish, except for Verificat, also in Catalan at the time of the analysis, and other media outlets that, to address the cultural diversity of their territories and teach certain ethnic minorities to read and write, produce translated versions of them. This is the case of Ecuador Chequea with videos of live fact-checks, summaries of fact-checks, etc., subtitled in Kichwa and shared on social networks such as Facebook for these segments of the population, or the podcast supported by illustrations and moving images “Chequeo en Lenguas” from Ojo Biónico on YouTube, self-defined as “Covid-19 verification for indigenous peoples”.

Sources: https://bit.ly/3m3Sjsb and https://bit.ly/39m1kI5

Next, as a non-exhaustive catalog or taxonomy according to their purpose or citizen utility, some types of visual, interactive, or multimedia content that the analyzed verifiers have been publishing on their social networks and online spaces are shared.

1. Visual announcements of the results of fact-checks or explanatory reports. We are referring to pho- tographic compositions with the image of the protagonist or representative object of the supposed information, on which the corresponding term is normally superimposed, as we have anticipated, as a label, the result of the fact-check according to the scale of the media outlet, and, on occasions, an explanatory headline or supporting text, a hashtag, and the verifier’s logo. This type of content is pre- sent in practically all the analyzed cases. Some verifiers also include visual explainer banners in their networks, with a similar format, to promote their explanatory articles (the case, for example, of Mal- dita through its “guides” section of its highlighted stories on Instagram and other social networks).

2. Graphic/ infographic posters with service information or citizen health advice in the face of the pandemic. Of different lengths or depths, they are distributed through Twitter (the aforementioned case of El Sabueso of Animal Político), Instagram (Bolivia Verifica), or other social networks depen- ding on the case. They are compositions where the visual information -with graphics, illustrations, or vectorial icons, sometimes taken from the internet and others created ad hoc by the media outlet- predominates over the textual information, which acts as a mere complement.

Figure 3: Excerpt fromBolivia Verifica’s profile on Instagram, where contents from the first two mentioned typologies are combined.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/boliviaverifica

3. Periodic video summaries of verifications. This would be the case of the aforementioned weekly video summary of Ecuador Chequea via YouTube, with a version translated into Kichwa and con- siderable repercussion on social networks like Facebook according to its promoters, and others that work as an alternative to the regular newsletters that media outlets like Salud Verifica send to their subscribers.

Figure 4: Weekly summary of video verifications via Facebook from Ecuador Verifica.

Source: https://fb.watch/4tSn8PFwCP/ (ver también YouTube: https://bit.ly/3ct7hEU)

4. Podcasts about verification. Together with audiovisual content, they are the most frequent, as anticipated. Some media give it use similar to that of the aforementioned video-summaries, such as Maldita with its “Maldita la hora”, a pioneering weekly podcast (with more than 70 chapters) of 10- 15 minutes on hoaxes, data, and a newspaper library that broadcasts on Fridays via Ivoox, iTunes, and Spotify and is also advertised on their social networks with the hashtag #malditalahora. We also found others of a diverse nature, for example, “anti-disinformation audios” within the playlists of Chequeado on YouTube; “Podcast verifica” by Agencia Lupa, launched in 2019, a pioneer in Brazil and accessible from one of its YouTube playlists and Spotify; podcasts with advice on Covid-19 health from Ecuador Chequea in Anchor; or “Chequeo amplificado”, hosted on the Speaker platform and accessible from a section of the Colombia Check website.

Figure 5: Posts about #malditalahora onMaldita’s Instagram, via story and post (on the sides), which gives access to it on Spotify (in the center).

Sources: https://www.instagram.com/maldita.es/and https://spoti.fi/3u76QX3

Figure 6: Excerpts from the podcast channel “Chequeo Amplificado” in Speaker ofColombia Check.

Source: https://www.spreaker.com/show/colombia-check

5. Audio-verification summaries. As a kind of combination of the two previous typologies, certain verifiers, such as Ojo Bionico from Ojo Público, have developed this format, 1-minute audio expla- nations of their verification reports that they upload to SoundCloud and insert into their articles. Its objective, according to its news director, David Hidalgo, is for people to be able to share them on WhatsApp and, thus, counteract misinformation even in areas less exposed to social networks.

Figure 7: Ojo Público s 1-Minute Coronavirus Cheking Podcast

Source: https://soundcloud.com/ojopublico/sets/podcast-ojo-bionico

6. Video interviews/ video testimonials from experts on fact-checking. This is also the case, for example, of Ojo Público, which offers video collections on its social networks where verification experts -many journalists from other verifiers- explain basic concepts about disinformation to the camera or share experiences carried out to spread the importance of the phenomenon and its conse- quences.

Figure 8: Videos fromOjo Público’s “Fact-Checking” collection on its YouTube channel.

Source: https://bit.ly/31pcF5R

7. Video explainers with journalists in front of the camera. Of different lengths, among the longest are those of El Sabueso of Animal Político, of about 8 minutes, where they explain why something is true or false and introduce, in the middle, “jokes, details, etc. to engage the public”, according to Tania Montalvo. The narratives and tone also vary, depending on both the media outlet and the social network. The range would range from more conventional videos, such as those by EFE Verifica on YouTube, supported by explanatory diagrams and still or moving current images, to more dynamic or disruptive ones, such as “what the fake” by Newtral on YouTube, with music and examples of disinformation about the pandemic (sometimes also as a weekly summary), or those of Maldita and Chequeado on YouTube and Instagram. Some are more elaborate, while others are less technically sophisticated, such as “al grill-datos y más datos” by Ecuador Chequea on YouTube, with figures in front of the camera and montage based on text and sound effects. Some are shot on set, closer to the educational format of the original MOOCs, and outdoors and with natural light, as chronicles/visual reports.

Figure 9: Examples, respectively, of EFE Verifica videos on the agency’s YouTube, with the editor in front of the camera (an unusual practice at EFE); from the “what the fake” section of Newtral; and from “al grill-datos y más datos” from Ecuador Chequea.

Sources: https://bit.ly/3crvg7A, https://bit.ly/3w7kDP6, and https://bit.ly/3w6wtsC

8. Streaming on verification. A variety of the above would be live broadcasts, also by professionals in front of the camera, carried out by certain media through social networks such as YouTube (Ecuador Verifica), Instagram (Chequeado), and even Twitch (Newtral). Although in the latter case, it is about informal interviews with characters linked to the Youtuber world (“chatting with…”) or current po- litical news that is not always directly related to fact-checking, it is significant due to its pioneering nature and how they have appropriated the atmosphere and format of streaming.

Figure 10: Examples of recordings ofNewtral broadcasts via Twitch.

Source: https://www.twitch.tv/newtral_es

9. Various video animations or video presentations. This is the case of Bolivia Verifica’s “Truth Capsules” on YouTube, where animated dolls replace journalists and animations and real images are mixed, with journalists’ voiceovers about news verifications, or video guides with useful information related to Covid-19 of Ecuador Chequea on its YouTube, made with apps such as Powtoon.

Figure 11: Video excerpts fromBolivia Verifica’s “Truth Capsules” list.

Source: https://bit.ly/2PzbfD2

10. Video montages and other creative, fun, and even gamified video content. The formulas here are diverse. Some examples would be Maldita’s videos on TikTok, with a fast pace, young people in front of the camera, and music, effects, overlays, and animated gifs, or #verifiquenvagos from Colombia Check on YouTube, based on humor and wit for, according to its promoters, deny misin- formation about the coronavirus in social networks.

Figure 12: Fragments of #verifiquenVagos fromColombia Check, about “the fakes of the coronavirus”.

Source: https://bit.ly/3czRZ1v

11. Serial fictional content. Among them, the comics in poster format in Instagram highlights of Sa- lud con Lupa; or the serial verification videos of the Lupa Agency, as periodic short films that also use humor and meme culture to hook audiences and are subtitled in different languages.

Figure 13: One of the comic-style posters in the “visual” section of Instagram highlights fromSalud con Lupa (left) and “#SóQueNão, Ep. 03 - Vacinas e mutação genética” (December 2020), via YouTube from Agencia Lupa (right).

Sources: https://bit.ly/2P7doWUand https://bit.ly/3w2B4fH

12. Music against misinformation. Some go further and use popular music genres in their territories to spread verification and get people to comment on them. This is the case of the videos on rap/ hip-hop by Ojo Público, which even plans to release an album in 2021 with a selection of songs performed by urban artists who warn, in native languages, of the damage caused by misinformation in the country.

Figure 14: “Realism”, performed by La Torita, the third single from the rap album ‘Chiqapwan Takisunchis’ [Let’s talk with the truth], produced byOjo Público, via YouTube.

Source: https://bit.ly/3lXQD3s

13. Interactive visualizations on verification. They are frequent, among others, in Newtral and Veri- ficat, which use Flourish for their website and adapt them for stories and posts on Instagram, a ne- twork in which the Lupa Agency also dedicates, in its highlighted stories, a section, “Did you know”, to explain current data with figures.

Figure 15: Some of the images fromVerificat’s Instagram post about the pandemic.

Source: https://bit.ly/3wfQsFF

14. Polls, surveys, and other interactive verification options. Some media (Maldita, Chequeado, etc.) use Instagram highlights to produce quizzes, games, or other ad hoc interactive content on this social network.

Figure 16: Detail of highlighted stories, with Quiz, surveys… ofMaldita on Instagram.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/maldita.es/

15. Interactive specials also broadcasted on social networks. In addition to the aforementioned typo- logies, which occur with a certain frequency or periodicity, we also find interesting monographs on verification, of a visual or interactive nature, developed by some verifiers as part of their production strategy and also disseminated on their social networks, as we comment on later.

Resources and processes for creating content for social networks

A good part of the aforementioned typology of content implies a production time, hence these practices are more limited in the verifiers that are micro-media. Depending on the case, it is carried out by the verifiers’ own personnel (with exclusive dedication or not), or by external or sporadic collaborators. In several analyzed verifiers they have visualization experts (for example, Verificat, Newtral, or Maldita) and/or designers who “graph” the data (for example, Ecuador Chequea) on their teams. The number of workers varies, and there are small verifiers, with 4-10 journalists, such as Cotejo.info or EFE Verifica, and others such as Bolivia Verifica or La Silla Vacía, where the workforce amounts to 20-35 people. In small media outlets or verification sections, the editors themselves almost always act as community managers, and some, like La Voz de Guanacaste, have audience editors as essential figures for active listening to their online channels.

Some initiatives are possible through synergies between media, external collaborations, or thanks to the availability of grants or external financing for their production. This is the case of #Latinografías of El Surtidor, a visual journalism project on verification in collaboration with Salud con Lupa and with the support of Facebook, the International Center For Journalists, the European Journalism Center, and the Program on Independent Journalism.

In any case, for journalists from traditional media, participating in its creation is a new learning expe- rience. Thus, for the staff of EFE Verifica, coming from the parent agency -in whose videos the editors do not usually appear-, it has been the first to record videos on camera, as its manager, Desireé García, commented. These videos are characterized by a more casual language and less rigidity than before a conventional media outlet. Other verifiers, as stated by Irene Ignacio from La República, point out the importance of skills such as visual narrative or data visualization for a journalist linked to verification, regardless of whether or not they are in charge of the final art.

Significant cases of strategic innovation in content adaptation

Besides having personnel with skills for the development of innovative content for social networks and their management, or having, where appropriate, resources to outsource these tasks, the interviewed managers agree on the importance of an organizational culture that fosters this innovation following the vision of each project. Thus, Joaquín Ortega, Newtral’s content manager, referred to the fact that “transferring all types of information to various formats” is part of the company’s DNA, which also uses its own social networks to publicize, through videos and other corporate multimedia resources, its social network content strategy.

It has been on YouTube since April 2018, and at the beginning of March 2021, it exceeds one million views according to data from the network itself. The contents here are varied, as can be seen in lists, some even about broadcasts on Twitch. Regarding hoaxes and verification, the list of “what the fake” to which we refer, with narrated examples of disinformation about the pandemic, and the “Covidpedia” project, videos made from vector animations and with voiceovers in which they share, in an informa- tive tone, service information on the pandemic, stand out.

Figure 17: List of “Covidpedia” videos on Newtral’s YouTube.

Source: https://bit.ly/3sw4fWj

Its Instagram profile is visually very neat, with designs that are very suitable for the brand image. It has, besides data visualizations, infographics, and typographic posters, numerous videos. They use IGTV a lot, and in the highlights, as on the website itself, there is a “verification zone” also dedicated to service information and disassembled hoaxes.

Figure 18: Newtral’s Instagram Verification Highlighted Stories.

Source: https://bit.ly/2QBd5nl

On Facebook, they share images resulting from their verifications or from projects such as “the risk meter” - a tool that measures the risk of contagion by Covid-19 in different citizen activities with the help of experts in epidemiology and public health - and they upload as videos, the multimedia contents from other networks, among them, the aforementioned direct video from Twitch, Instagram lives, or podcasts that they also carry out, not always about verification. Their journalistic epicenter is on Twit- ter, where they use micro-videos and animated graphics for their posts and hashtags such as #factcheck or #verificamosparati (this one to meet audience demands) for verification issues.

Figure 19: Designs elaborated, respectively, to share verification and “the risk meter” results and shared byNewtral as posts on its Facebook.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/NewtralMedia

Another significant case in Spain is Verificat, a young project very oriented to the principles of digital culture. Emerged in 2019 as the first independent verification platform in Catalonia, its content on social networks, as Alba Tobella pointed out when interviewed, is the result of teamwork. They have data journalists for investigation, one of the fact-checkers is very active in data visualization, and the person who runs social networks also has skills in graphic design. In between, coordinators are the ones who decide which fact-checks can be visually told. With more than fifty views on Flourish, they have made a strong commitment to creating visual stories and views about verifications on networks such as Instagram, and are working on special monographs.

Figure 20: Detail of one of the interactive data visualizations thatVerificat usually includes in its texts about verifications and shares in its social networks, made with Flourish.

Source: https://bit.ly/3u0zTeB

At the end of 2020, they carried out a crowdfunding campaign via Goteo.org, for whose dissemination they relied mainly on Twitter. In the words of Tobella, one of their objectives was to increase their community of readers since their followers on social networks respond to a younger profile than them. Similarly, Clara Jiménez, co-founder and co-director of Maldita, half-dean in Spain characterized by its innovative, close, and informal tone, and in permanent beta, pointed out that “against all odds”, its readers are over forty-five, mainly, and fifty-five years old: “We don’t have a large young audience. I think that is our challenge and we are working on it through TikTok, trying to make little pills of some things that attract younger audiences, trying to be more present on their networks.”

On this channel, opened in mid-2020 under the Maldito Bulo brand, they make one-minute videos focused, among other science topics, on practical advice to prevent Covid-19 or deny hoaxes about the pandemic, even using “challenges” (see images below). If working directly on social networks, creating visual formats that users could send via Whatsapp or Telegram or upload to their profiles on Facebook and Twitter, was one of the innovations of the project in its early days (Bernal and Clares, 2019), with these practices they are once again “early adopters” of new channels.

Figure 21: Examples of videos linked to the use of masks during Covid-19, one of the “star” topics inthe initial phase of the pandemic.

Source: TikTok of Maldita, via https://maldita.es/malditateexplica/20210118/lucha-bulos-desinformacion-tiktok/

The Argentinian Chequeado, a pioneer in Latin America, has also been betting since its origins on putting “focus on social networks, on the crowd, as innovation and differentiation”, in the words of its founder and executive and journalistic director, Laura Zommer. Since 2015, its structure has had an innovation program from which online content projects are coordinated, giving it wide visibility on its social networks, such as the “Museum of Disinformation” -an interactive site launched in 2020 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Chequeado- or “I check it” -co-creation tool under development through which anyone can verify content-.

Figure 22: Microsite of the Museum of Disinformation and example of a promotional post onChequeado’s Instagram.

Sources: chequeado.com/museodeladesinformacionand https://www.instagram.com/chequeado

Apart from their large community on Facebook and, above all, Twitter, in recent times they have paid more attention to Instagram, according to Zommer, considering it a “more constructive space, without trolls or haters”, and with enormous potential, like YouTube, to develop more educational content. Wi- thout a presence yet on TikTok, they affirm that their strategy has always been based on going slowly and seeking “sustained growth” over time.

Another consolidated verifier in the Latin American sphere, Salud con Lupa, has been guided by a strategy consisting of allying with scientists to produce content that is then adapted to different online formats, always prioritizing its usefulness and understanding for audiences, according to its director and co-founder, Fabiola Towers.

Among its recent editorial innovation projects, “Scientifically proven”, a special launched in March 2021 in collaboration with the Epistemonikos Foundation, responds to this spirit. In it, they analyze the most used treatments against Covid-19 and classify them according to their effectiveness, allowing users to make filtered searches or expand data on each one. Content like this, along with research re- sults on the pandemic (#vacunagate, for example, on Twitter) and other visual literacy and dissemina- tion content already mentioned, occupy their channels on social networks.

Figure 23: Extracts from the “Scientifically proven” microsite and tweet published on February 12th, 2021 announcing these contents.

Sources: https://bit.ly/3w9n4AAand https://bit.ly/3lXSrtr

Different phases, same consciousness

The own production of content for social networks is situated, as confirmed by its own promoters, between the strategy (with editorial plans and actions for the active listening of online audiences, mo- nitoring, and evaluation of the results) and experimentation.

Many verifiers today focus on the quality of the information rather than on adapting their formats. Others are in the community generation phase, such as the Verificador de La República according to its content coordinator, Irene Ignacio, and leave format innovation for later phases.

Among significant cases of orchestrated adaptation of verification content for different audiences and as part of a strategy (editorial plans and media literacy), El Sabueso of Mexico stands out, besides tho- se reviewed. As its general editor, Tania Montalvo, recounted, its main product is verification videos aimed at young audiences and whose topics are decided “based on people’s comments about a verifi- cation”. For a different audience, “a little older” they create “light” and sometimes “fun” infographics to provide them with information. With the pandemic, they also consolidated their “explainers”, long texts where they explain from start to finish, without saying if something is true or false, the details of a topic to “prevent misinformation”. All this content, besides social networks, is classified on its website.

Another verifier with a well-defined strategy adapted to the peculiarities of its territory is, as mentioned, Ojo Bionico of Ojo Público. As part of its social function, it has been producing content translated into indigenous languages and designed to be distributed to audiences with limited connectivity, not only on social networks but also via mobile devices or radio, thanks to collaborations with local ac- tors. Its news director, David Hidalgo, referred to all of this as “indie methodology” which, through the combination of art, music, and other disciplines, aims to alphabetize against misinformation about Covid-19 in rural areas.

Some managers insist on the importance of adapting content according to different levels of audience engagement and of including indicators for monitoring online results in their plans. As Gabriela Bre- nes, executive director of La Voz de Guanacaste, pointed out, to incorporate a journalistic product, “the first and most challenging thing” is “not to be guided by intuition and measure the impact so that the experimentation is intentional.”