Another method to find the earliest version of a video is to perform an image search of the video thumbnail using Google Image Search or TinEye (as explained in the previous chapter). This can identify the first instance of video thumbnails and images. The helpfulness of these tools depends on the image quality; a strong contrast in the video and a distinctive color scheme help. Once you’ve found the source behind the video, contact the source to begin the next step. Verify the source It’s time to examine the source the same way we would look at any more-traditional source of information. Indeed, often much more information is available about an online source than a traditional source telephoning a tip line, for example. Online profiles leave a digital footprint that allows us to examine history and activity. Most platforms enable us to contact uploaders, which is an essential step. Ultimately we seek to engage with the uploader, ask questions and satisfy ourselves that the uploader filmed the footage. These questions are useful when examining an uploader’s digital footprint: • Are we familiar with this account? Has the account holder’s content and report age been reliable in the past? • Where is this account registered? • Where is the uploader based, judging by the account history? • Are video descriptions consistent and mostly from a specific location? Are videos dated? • If videos on the account use a logo, is this logo consistent across the videos? Does it match the avatar on the YouTube or Vimeo account? • Does the uploader “scrape” videos from news organizations and other YouTube accounts, or does he upload solely user-generated content? • Does the uploader write in slang or dialect that is identifiable in the video’s narration? • Are the videos on this account of a consistent quality? (On YouTube, go to Settings and then Quality to determine the best quality available.) • Do video descriptions have file extensions such as .AVI or .MP4 in the video title? This can indicate the video was uploaded directly from a device. • Does the description of a YouTube video read: “Uploaded via YouTube Capture”? This may indicate the video was filmed on a smartphone. Gathering the answers to these questions helps paint a picture of the source, the source’s online history and the kind of content he shares. From there, it’s important to try to connect that account’s activity to any other online accounts the source maintains. Below are some practices/questions to guide this process. • Search Twitter or Facebook for the unique video code - are there affiliated accounts? (Every piece of UGC is identified by a unique code that appears in the URL. On YouTube and Facebook, for instance, the code is placed between “v=” and the next “&” in the URL.) 49