TicToc, Bloomberg’s 24/7 news network built for social distribution, is hoping to curb the spread of fake news surrounding Tuesday’s midterm election with a series of verified Twitter Moments.
The network, which specializes in smaller, snack-sized clips based on current news events, will create 50 Twitter Moments (one for each U.S. State) surrounding the midterm election.
Its Twitter Moments — which enables TicToc to stitch together multiple tweets into slideshow-like stories — will include real-time updates on election outcomes, a “what you need to know about the candidates” segment and verified tweets from the candidates themselves as well as from other politicians, Bloomberg reporters and thought leaders in the space. At the end of the night, TicToc will create one Master Moment that contains every state-level Moment so viewers can get the entire overview of the night.
“We find that with how crowded and sort of saturated Twitter can be, whether it’s with fake news or just a lot of different outlets poking at the same story, Moments allow us to create this curated feed of verified information where we can say, ‘OK, here’s the top story of the day and here’s what’s important,’” TicToc’s head of social Catherine Taibi told TheWrap’s VideoInk.
Taibi emphasized that the tweets and info curated in each Moment will be verified by one of Bloomberg’s network of 2,700 journalists and analysts, making it a reliable source of information.
“It’s really our attempt at fighting through fake news and fighting through the saturation that will be Twitter on election night,” she added.
The TicToc exec said that discoverability is one of the big reasons the network decided to double down on Twitter Moments, as opposed to live streaming the coverage or stitching together one large video that lives on its profile page. This is because with Twitter Moments, TicToc can reach people who aren’t following the digital news network’s Twitter page, extending its reach to everyone on the social platform.
In addition to its coverage on Twitter, Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg mobile app will feature a live blog and interactive election results map, where users can filter races by attributes, such as where women are running or which states are key races. The map will also link out to each of the 50 State Moments on @TicToc.
Launched in late 2017, TicToc is currently only available on Twitter, but is expected to extend its reach to other social platforms in the coming year. The digital network is made up of 60 editors, producers, social curators, product developers, engineers and designers operating across offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. All of the content posted on TicToc is verified by Bloomberg’s network of journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries.