How Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat usage are changing the face of journalism and business development

Dr Farida Vis, acclaimed social media data scientist and occasional Guardian Twitter analyst, University of Sheffield, spoke about the importance of social media platforms and apps at the Big Data for Media conference on May 8 in London, sponsored by World Newsmedia Network and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 

Among the most notable social media landscape changes are the rise of platforms and apps focused on visual content on a variety of social platforms including:
- Pinterest
- Tumblr
- Instagram
- Vine
- Snapchat

Importantly, visual content drives retweeting, Vis says. "Photos give verified users a 35 percent bump in retweets. Images important for multiple reasons."

However, the rise of social media has given rise to inaccuracies and the need for a greater degree of journalistic verification. "The price for inaccuracy has never been higher," Vis quoted author Craig Silverman saying in his 2012 book, "Verification Handbook."

Vis analyzed the case of fake pictures of Hurricane Sandy images but also mentioning post Boston-marathon bombing.  "Twitter does it best work in the first five minutes and its worst in twelve hours after that," wrote Matt Roller a writer based in LA tweeted.

Vis mentioned Izitru (http://www.izitru.com/), a new image hosting service that helps you verify the authenticity of an image.