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CHECK IT

The newest feature that helps users navigate between true content and misleading information on social media platforms.

Client: Creative Media for Social Change
Mentoring agency: Momkai
Designers: Carolina Masuero, Fanni Czegle, Lidwien Lumkeman, Paula Lopez Mascarin
Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Master of Digital Design

Process

01.

Discover

Desk research

Benchmark

Experiment

User survey

Expert interviews

02.

Define

Stakeholders

Target

Personas

User journey

Goal

03.

Ideate

Requirement list

Ideation

Workshop

Flow charts

04.

Design

Final concept

Prototype

05.

Test

User testing

Iteration

Context

The project "Navigation misinformation" focuses on improving media literacy in the digital era by addressing online information quality and disinformation. It explores various tools and practices to assist citizens in navigating the vast information landscape.

Goal

How might we help teenagers from 14 to 18 years old recognise what content is reliable or not on Instagram and Tiktok and make the platforms more transparent on the truthness of the content?

Personas

Girl User persona profile
Boy User persona profile

Survey

We created a survey for teenagers, because we wanted to learn more of the online behavior of this age group. We translated the survey in Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese to send it out to teenagers we know. Overall we got 30 answers. The goal of it were:

  • To have insights of teenagers behavior on social media.

  • To know the type of content teenagers watch on social media.

  • Understand how aware the teenagers are of fake news on social media.

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Insights:

In what social media do you believe you learn more?

Graphic of in which social media people learn more

What kind of content do you most consume in social media?

Graphic of the amount of content people consume more

Final concept

"Check it" is an innovative feature designed to enhance user experience across different social media platforms, like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more. This feature is specifically designed for users in effectively distinguishing between trustworthy content and potentially misleading or false information. Focusing on 4 areas "Check it" aims to empower users by providing them with reliable tools to navigate on the landscape of online information.

Icons of the different brench of the final concept

Create account

Onboarding

Comments

Verified specialist

Create account

To provide a safer and more secured platform we use a verification process, ensuring protection against fake accounts and scammers. By implementing ID verification, users can trust that the platform is actively combating scammers and prioritizing user safety. This verification mechanism strengthens the overall integrity of the platform and providing a more authentic and trustworthy online environment for all users.

Create account Wireframes

Onboarding video

Through an engaging short video, users are educated about the new features of the platform. In this video we used deepfake technology to demonstrate the enhancements, captivating the audience's attention. The video advices how users can prioritize the reliability of the content and empowering them to form their own opinion while navigating the platform.

Comments

Users will see the fact-checker comment on the top of the comment section of the verified videos. In this case the flow of scrolling videos will not be interrupted with something like a disclaimer, but users can be educated through the comments that they open if they want to learn more about the actual video they saw.

Labeling system for fact-checkers
AI and human fact-checkers will work simultaneously to validate the contents and categorize them for the users.They will have a color according to the label assigned and a short comment to explain why the category was chosen. Recommended videos to validate the decision will be added and to give the user the opportunity to create an opinion.

Categorization of the fact-checker labels

For users
Users first can see a pop up, that says “this video was reviewed”, so they will know if they open the comment section they can find a comment on the top from the fact-checker. The background color of the comment already gives the user an idea about the truths of the fact-checked comment, although we decided to include a label that makes it more accessible to users with daltonism. Under the explanation there are recommended videos from the fact-checker, that can validate the statement or helps the user explore different point of views on the topic.

Wireframes showing the additions of the features to the app

Verified specialist

Profiles on the platform that share content on specific topics can now upload their certifications and credentials. When a profile is verified, it will have an icon to indicate that it is a reliable source. This helps users identify trustworthy and knowledgeable creators, creating a more informed and trustworthy community on the platform.

Verified specialist wireframes

Research

The research went from desk research to situated design passing through interviews, workshops with the target and surveys.

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The desk research focused on several key topics related to misinformation on social media platforms. We examined the fact-checking practices of popular platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Google, exploring their methods to identify false information. We researched on how to provide the users tips or techniques to recognize fake news. We were also curious of the psychological aspects of how the human brain processes and adopts fake news. Furthermore we investigated real-world events that were affected by the spread of misinformation. We reviewed academic papers and studies to get insights from scholarly perspectives. We also reviewed statistical analysis to determine the demographic characteristics (age, country) and prevalent types of fake news. Then we researched on plugins how it can be implemented on social media platforms.

Target

14 to 18 years old
They are vulnerable to fake or untruthful information and their inability to discern alternate “truths” and to base their opinions/decisions on reliable sources of information. Many students were not aware of the conventions indicating whether the information has been verified and showed little skepticism when evaluating the content of particular websites. They were more focused on the media content than on the sources and the trustworthiness of the sources Of the 203 students surveyed, more than 80% believed a native ad, identified with the words "sponsored content," was a real news story.

_Stanford History Education Group (2016)

Behavior
81% of the teenagers use social media, High school age or younger use to consume news: 45% on TikTok and 35% on Instagram.

_Pew Research Center (2022)

Stakeholders

Stakeholders mapping

Expert interviews

Luuk EX Linkedin photo

Luuk Ex

News researcher

Pia Ortiz Linkedin photo

Pía Ortiz

Fact-checker / Journalist

Sierra Juarez Linkedin photo

Sierra Juarez

Fact-checker

Ideation

Dark side
We ideated with the help of 2 ideation methods. One of it was the ‘dark side’ method. The dark side turns your challenge into a negative one, forcing you to look at it from a refreshing angle.

DARK SIDE

LIGHT SIDE

Post its of a dark side ideation

635
We also had an ideation session with the 635 method although instead of 6 we only had 4 participants. You can see the main ideas below.

Post its of a 635 ideation

Workshop

Duration: 1 hour

Location: Internation School Haarlem

Total students: 73 students (separated in 2 groups

Set up of the workshop

Feedback in concepts:

During this exercise, we requested students to provide both positive and negative feedback for each concept that was developed. We made diligent efforts to refine and improve the final idea based on their feedback, considering their preferences and dislikes. The concepts presented for feedback encompassed:

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Concept 1: Truth filter

Concept 2: Look out the comments

Concept 3: Discover

First concept wireframe
Second concept wireframe
Third concept wireframe

Co-design

For this exercise, we asked students to imagine in a near future how TikTok could be to help users identify when a content contains misinformation or not.

wireframes of a co design with kids

Conclusions

Our exploration of concepts and teenage behavior has provided us with a wealth of valuable insights. Specifically, we have learned that teenagers exhibit a high level of concern regarding the freedom of speech, trust, and navigating jokes and sarcasm. These findings have proven to be incredibly useful in deepening our understanding of this demographic and their perspectives on these important societal issues.

Flows

Four different flow charts of the concept

Testing

Goal of the test

We conducted a test for the final concept involving a group of 9 teenagers. In this test, we presented them with a hypothetical scenario and assigned them specific tasks to accomplish. Our goal was to identify:

  • General usability, if accessing the features created is intuitive and easy

  • Whether the Comment feature contribute to a better understanding of information reliability to users.

  • Whether the Verified Specialist feature contribute to more trust on creators.

  • Behaviour and impressions about the onboarding video

  • If overall the features added improve the experience to spot misinformation online

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