Evidence for the Science and Technology Committee (Commons) Inquiry into Social Media Data and Real Time Analytics

In June, I gave evidence for the ongoing Science and Technology Committee (Commons) Inquiry into Social Media Data and Real Time Analytics based on written evidence that Dr Anne Alexander and I submitted.  We wished to emphasise that:

• Social media data is subject to a variety of distortions; 
• To establish a fact, social media data must undergo a verification process requiring time, triangulation, and human expertise; 
• This verification process raises ethical concerns because it can require identifying the source of the data; 
• And social media data might be best used as an 'awareness system' (Hermida, 2009).