Tools and tactics for searching social networks to find experts and investigate sources. Presented August 2013 at the Summer School for Investigative Reporting at SSE Riga, Latvia.

3. Pros:
• More
than
1
billion
ac/ve
users
worldwide
• Crosses
all
demographic
lines
in
most
countries
• Mobile-­‐heavy
audience
Cons:
• Users
are
wary
of
people
they
don’t
know
• Due
to
varying
user
se@ngs,
some
informa/on
is
not
available
• OpenGraph
search
isn’t
available
to
all
yet

4. Use
Case
#1:
Ge@ng
the
basic
info
and
image
on
a
named
source

5. Pay
to
Message:
It’s
Worth
It

6. Use
Case
#2:
See
who
I
know
close
to
a
story
or
in
a
loca/on

7. Use
Case
#3:
Search
by
jobs,
loca/ons,
hobbies,
any
of
Facebook’s
input
data
sets

8. Interest
lists
–
monitor
public
figures,
companies,
poli/cians,
brands
Friend
lists
–
arrange
contacts
into
groups
to
make
browsing
and
pos/ng
easier

9. Pros:
• More
than
238
million
members
in
200
countries
• 65%
located
outside
the
U.S.
• Mul/-­‐language
support
Cons:
• S/ll
gaining
use
in
some
industries
and
na/ons
• Some
features
only
available
with
premium
memberships

10. • LinkedIn
for
Journalists
–
join
the
group.
• Premium
service:
free
for
journalists
who
do
a
35-­‐minute
webinar.
• Keep
your
profile
current
and
robust
so
poten/al
sources
can
find
you.

11. Use
Case
#1:
Get
background
on
a
specific
person

12. Use
Case
#2:
Find
a
source
with
a
par/cular
background
or
skill
set
linkedin.com/skills/

13. Use
Case
#3:
Search
for
a
source
at
a
par/cular
company

14. Use
Case
#4:
Follow
companies’
and
governments
news
Also:
Set
up
email
alerts
on
searches

15. Pros:
• More
than
288
million
ac/ve
users
worldwide
• Used
widely
for
big
stories,
movements
• Mul/-­‐language
support
• Lots
of
third-­‐party
tools
Cons:
• S/ll
gaining
use
in
some
industries
and
na/ons
• 40%
of
users
use
it
to
read
only
• Can
be
very
noisy

16. • Search
by
keywords,
loca/on,
/me

18. • Organize
users
into
useful
groups
• Watch
companies
and
sources
• Read
only
what
you
need

28. GoHachi.com

29. Hachi

30. * Try Identify in Firefox, Falcon for Chrome

35. Mandy Jenkins
mandyjenkins@gmail.com
@mjenkins
MandyJenkins.com
These slides & more at
slideshare.net/mandyjenkins