Evaluating Social Media Sources

In my last post I evaluated scholarly sources, and in this post I will continue to look at the embryonic stem cell controversy by looking at social media sources. I found those sources through Storify where I created my own story. 

The first source I am going to evaluate is a post by Eric Gideon that I found on Storify that is linked to his Google Plus account. 

• Credibility: I am able to corroborate who Eric Gideon is because I found his LinkedIn profile, which matches up with his Google Plus profile. Gideon is a Histotech-HT (ASCP) at Pathologist Diagnostic Laboratory and he received his education at Davidson County Community College.
• Location: They are not physically in the location of where there is controversy over embryonic stem cell research. This is partly because the controversy is a nationwide topic, and there are no specific areas that can be traced to the controversy.
• Network: In Gideon's Google Plus circle he as the company NiNHealthCare and pages called creating a healthy lifestyle and EndTime Prophecy & Medical Ministry Intl.  The health care company has credibility but the other pages are more social groups on Google Plus. 
• Content: All of Geideon's posts contain a link that directs readers to the website where the topic he is commenting on is located. He also uses the same hashtags after every post that connect his posts to create a theme. These hashtags are #health, #nutrition, #cure, #prevention. 
• Contextual Update: When browsing Storify, Gideon had a plethora of posts with links about articles that discuss different content about stem cell research controversy. One talks about possible solutions to the controversy, another talk about the history of stem cell research, and many more. 
• Age: There is no information about when the account was created, but all of the posts on the page (after scrolling through a lot) are all dated in the past month. 
• Reliability: This source appears to be very reliable after evaluating it, and the information shared on the posts are very informative and add to the debate. 

"Google Plus Around the World." Ben-Avranham, Yoel. September 14th 2011 via flickr. Creative Commons License. 

The second source I a going to evaluate is a post by David O'Connell that I found on Storify that is linked to his Google Plus account. 

• Credibility: I am able to corroborate who David O'Connell is because I found his LinkedIn profile, which matches up with his Google Plus profile. He is the President/CEO of TransBio-Tex Inc. which is located in Salem, North Carolina. He used to be a part of the United States Army in the aviation department. 

• Location: Like a stated above in the first source, he is not physically in the location of where the controversy over embryonic stem cell research takes place. This is partly because the controversy is a nationwide topic, and there are no specific areas that can be traced to the controversy.

• Network: The only related pages in his circle on Google Plus are Multiple Sclerosis- NewLifeOutlook and HelpHOPELive. Both are medical topics but are not completely related to stem cell research. Also, both are not authoritative cites, they are just pages looking for support. 

• Content: All of O'Connell's posts include a direct link with an image to the online article he is commenting on in his post. For this reason his information is very reliable and can be corroborated with the actual source. 

• Contextual Update:The majority of O'Connell's post are topics about science discoveries and medical procedure news. There are several specifically about stem cell research, but other topics include DNA, regeneration, and cancer. 

• Age: There is no information about the date the account was created. However, the account is very recent because there were articles posted this morning (9/3/15). 

• Reliability: Overall, this source is very reliable because it checked out well in all of the above criteria. I would definitely use posts from O'Connell's Google Plus as media sources for a research project.