Evaluation of Social Media Sources

Evaluation of Social Media Sources

The final type of source that will be used is a social media source. Hundreds of Millions use social media so truly only a small percentage could be considered a reliable source. Those included in this small percentage are the experts in the subject that are on social sites.

I found both of my sources on twitter by searching for keywords in the search bar.

My first source comes from Steven Greenhouse and he includes a link to a New York Times article on the subject.

1. Greenhouse appears to be a creditable source. Upon googling him, his Twitter is the top result. He also has his own website and is the author of a published book. He has held a position since 1995 with the New York Times, a very well known and respected publication, as a labor and workplace writer. He has the credential that would make him a reliable source on things related to labor.
2. Greenhouse is not in California but there have been disputes about Uber all over the country. This issue with Uber is one that relates to labor issues which is what Greenhouse specializes in.
3. Greenhouses followers range from random people to CEO's of smaller media companies as well as other members of the media world. I noticed many of his followers include something to do with labor in their bio's which is, as stated before, Greenhouse's specialty.
4. The information in their tweet comes from a New York Times article. The New York Times is a very well known and respected publication.
5. This tweet was made 3 days ago so it is fairly recent. He has not tweeted about Uber recently other then this but since his tweets are mostly about labor situations he will most likely be tweeting about Uber as more develops.
6. Greenhouses account was created in March of 2011 and he has 20.9k tweets to his name.
7. I would consider Greenhouse to be a reliable source for Uber but only when it relates to labor.

My second social media source comes from Susan Shaheen and she included a screenshot on news regarding Uber from a story in North Carolina.

1. When I searched for information on Susan Shaheen her page at Berkley came up. She is a professor at University of California-Berkley which is a prestigious University. She is researching sustainable transportation which Uber falls under.
2. She teaches in California so she was not in North Carolina nor is she directly involved but she does research these types of events.
3. She does not have a high amount of followers but others involved with transportation do follow her. A man's whose bio says he is a director for transport technology at a company follows her.
4. The information from her tweet comes from another source. Upon a quick search one can find more information about the ride sharing bill in North Carolina.
5. This tweet is a fairly recently one and nearly all of her tweets are regarding something to do with Uber or other ride sharing companies. This would make sense given what she is researching but all of her tweets are relating to what my topic is about(Uber/ride sharing companies).
6. Her account was created in November of 2012 so she has been an active user for a while. She has 3255 tweets so she tweets fairly often, especially recently.
7. I would say she is a reliable source because all of her research relates to Uber related things. She is up to date on all things ride sharing so she is constantly updating her twitter followers on what is going on.