Evaluation of Social Media Sources

To continue to find more information on cycling and doping I went to social media to try and research more of what is going on in the controversy. This blog post will analyze two social media sources, and determine whether they are credible or not.

GDJ. "The Peril of Twitter." 04/02/15 via Clipart.
Public Domain Dedication License.

The first source is the Twitter account of “Real Gaz of Trumpton” I have no idea who the person behind the account actually is, but he/she appears to be an avid cyclist, participating in the sport and therefore having legitimate knowledge about cycling. The second source is the Storify account of Sophie Hurcom, an aspiring journalist and university grad. 

Real Gaz appears to be a cyclist, so they are at cycling events, but not famous or good enough to be at large scale events that Chris Froome would be at. As far as I can tell Sophie is not at any of the cycling events she documents via social media. 

Neither source has a following of anyone credible or influential in the realm of cycling.

The content that Real Gaz Tweets about cycling is mostly from their own opinion and ideas related to the sport. They appears to do their research, but their Tweets are their own weigh in on certain large happenings and events. On the other hand Sophie complies tweets from professionals and experts on cycling, and displays them with her own short comments. 

Both sources post consistently about cycling, and big events and controversies in the cycling arena.

Real Gaz’s Twitter is 7 years old and Sophie’s Storify is 2 years old at least. 

Real Gaz’s Twitter, after scrutiny, does not seem to be a reliable source about cycling controversies as it is all very heavily opinionated. Sophie’s Storify however contains many credible social media posts from other, more informed and respected figures in cycling, so can be considered fairly reliable.