Misinformation

Our Project

Our project design focused on providing solutions to the concerns we heard during our initial interviews. College students are aware of misinformation on commonly used social media platforms, and there are mixed levels of concern about it. Some groups are extremely careful about navigating online, while others are indifferent outside of their areas of expertise. Our goal for this project was to create a solution that would work for all parties.

Our initial design was for a desktop extension that would run in the background and provide additional context/corrections to headlines seen online. We realized that although this design could have potential, we weren’t meeting our users’ needs. They were college students who lived on their phones. Requiring users to switch to using a laptop to browse the web isn’t realistic, so we iterated on our design and changed directions.

We ended up creating VeriFly, a mobile app that runs in the background of a mobile device, and interfaces with popular social media platforms. In cases where misinformation is detected, the user is notified. Since many users indicated that they were concerned but didn’t want to drastically change how they used their phones, a background app was the idea solution. Additionally, these detection features can be toggled on and off at any time. This way, users are able to be as aware of misinformation as they want to be without needing to change their browsing habits.

Big Points

• 1. Target Audience: College students who use social media.
  
• 2. Purpose: Designed to identify misinformation in web posts.
  
• 3. Functionality: Detects, warns about, and offers solutions for misinformation.
  
• 4. Platforms: Accessible on both iOS and Android devices.
  
• 5. Compatibility: Works with Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
  
• 6. User Interface: Utilizes pop-ups, notifications, and an intuitive app menu for ease of use.