Factspace West Africa, Accra 16.02.2024
FactSpace West Africa recently completed remote training for the Ghana Fact-Checking Network – a collective of fact-checkers spread across the country. This online course focused on Brandwatch, a social media analytics platform used to monitor online conversations, especially on X.
The training is part of a bigger project called the USAID-DAI Democratizing Digital SMA project, which is training journalists across West Africa — Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia— to counter the growing threat of fake news and disinformation.
This is not the first time FactSpace West Africa is offering training on social media manipulation. An earlier training was on unmasking the person behind the fake news. The latest is aimed at equipping the Ghana Fact-Checking Network to identify and analyze instances of manipulation using Brandwatch.
Fig 2 – The Team connecting from the FactSpace Head Office
Brandwatch is like a social media lens that users can employ to see what’s happening online, assess trends, and pinpoint related content. The training was all about how to use that lens. Participants were taken through how to choose a topic, craft research questions, and then turn those questions into Brandwatch searches to reveal better understand trends in online conversations.
Lead trainer, Mr. Sedem Kwasigah, a researcher and disinformation analyst with FactSpace demonstrated the power of everyday tools, such as Boolean operators in Google searches. By the end of the training, participants were sufficiently equipped with using Brandwatch as a fact-checking tool, ready to confront misinformation.
This training represents a significant advancement in the fight against misinformation in West Africa. Equipped with these new skills, the Ghana Fact-Checking Network is better prepared than ever to ensure that Ghanaians have access to accurate and nuanced information.
By Julius Kofi Satsi
