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Maude Muto Blog Post #9 - Is That Social Media Post Just CRAAP?

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Librarians are aware of using the CRAAP test (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose) when checking websites for authenticity and truthfulness. However, it may be helpful for the layperson to consider these factors when viewing social media posts.

Readers should ask themselves, Is the information current? Is it a recent event? Just yesterday, I came across an Instagram reel on TikTok with images of Hurricane Melissa heading to New York. After careful evaluation, I realized that the image was indeed showing a storm track, but it was of Hurricane Ida from 2021 – certainly not current. The fear-mongering is rampant!

Moving on through the CRAAP test checklist, I then considered whether the post was relevant. Well, it certainly was as Hurricane Melissa had just made landfall on Jamaica. I had been clicking on many images of the hurricane, and the algorithms caught up with me, showing me storm information on every other post. Evaluating the authority of any information starts with considering the source – who wrote, published, or sponsored it (Evaluating Information, 2010). One would need to evaluate the author’s qualifications and expertise on the subject.

The accuracy of the post also needs to be taken into consideration. Increasingly, people and businesses are utilizing AI to generate content for their social media platforms. The resulting language often includes grammatical and typographic errors. Additionally, viewers need to examine the post for bias, emotion, and tone.

In the CRAAP test, P stands for purpose. Look deeper: is the purpose of the social media post to sell a product, link the viewer to another account, or convince them? Is the post associated with the political party or a religious institution? We must all be diligent when scrolling through socials. How often have you gone down the rabbit hole or doom scrolled? Try to apply all of the aspects of the CRAAP test to evaluate the social media content and credibility.

References

Evaluating Information – Applying the CRAAP Test. California State University Chico. (2010, September 7). https://library.csuchico.edu/sites/default/files/craap-test.pdf

Comments

  1. Anonymous10/31/2025 04:02:00 PM

    Hi Maude! Thank you for this blog post on something so critical to the determination of information accuracy - "Is the purpose of the social media post to sell a product, link the viewer to another account, or convince them?" I think there is so much to unpack in this question, and it makes me wonder about the impact of taking the time to simply ask these series of questions in a reflective manner that was found in the article, " The Psychology of Fake News." Thank you for your share! I wonder what other heuristics could be found in these online information seeking and reposting behaviors.

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