Navigating the Flood of Information in the Crypto Era

The exponential growth of cryptocurrency has opened the floodgates to a sea of information. For a newcomer to the crypto scene, this can quickly lead to information overload. Learning about this world can be pretty frustrating and overwhelming for the uninitiated. “Is this information correct?” or “can I trust this source?” become questions that haunt you along your crypto journey. So, here are some pieces of advice on how to evaluate a source.

First, it is important to know when the source was established. CoinDesk, for example, was founded in 2013, and since then it has often been cited by The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and CNBC. The longevity of a source indicates its trustworthiness, since readers determine the growth of a source, and hence its credibility.

Second, check for accuracy and consistency. Serious journals quote their sources correctly. Being able to go back to the original text to check the facts is an important indicator of the writer’s credibility. Also, study the writers’ behavior. Who is behind the articles? Go through the other articles they wrote and determine whether they are consistent with each other or contradictory. This could be decisive in your search for trustworthy sources.

Third, compare. Don’t place too much stock in one piece of information in isolation. If something happened in the crypto world, there is big chance that others have discussed it too. Read more than one article on the same topic, this way you’ll be able to differentiate the outliers from the overall trend.

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The three techniques mentioned above are a good start. Nevertheless, there are many other actions you can take to filter reliable and unreliable news sources. For example, this year Google Chrome released an extension called Trusted News, which gives you feedback on the trustworthiness of the page you’re reading. Otherwise, if you are afraid to venture into the wild world of cryptocurrencies, stick to the most known sources such as CoinDesk, CoinTelegraph, AMBCrypto and CCN.

If you want to get daily updates on the crypto world or you simply want to connect with the most influential people in the field, you could follow them on Twitter. The top five accounts according to the number of followers are: Vitalik Buterin, Roger Ver, Brock Pierce, Charlie Lee and Changpeng Zhao.

Clearly, the list of experts in the field is much longer. You can have a look here if you are interested to know more about them. Nevertheless, if you are a newbie, you should take into account the difficulty of separating the signal from the noise on Twitter.

As always, “practice makes perfect”, so keep reading and educating yourself on cryptocurrencies with a critical eye and look for consistency throughout the sources you consult. At The Relevance House we keep our finger on the pulse of the crypto world and we always look for relevant and reliable content to keep you updated. Follow us on Twitter to find out more.

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Photo credits:

Photo 1 by Alex Andrews on Pexels
‍Photo 2 by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash