Countering Disinformation in Online Public Discourse with Big Data and Predictive Analytics

Promoting a public platform has never been easy, but the post-Cambridge Analytica realities have made managing public discourse more challenging for even the most trusted organizations. In a world of disinformation and “alternative facts”, how can readers trust what they read on the Internet? Our client made it their mission to fight disinformation and expose it to the light. Enter the RPC team to help make this vision a reality.

Challenge
  • Create state-of-the-art social listening & analysis tool
  • Combine existing commercial tech with proprietary software
  • No clearly defined user experience
  • No starting roadmap for technology combination and development
  • Millions of data points to be processed and analyzed daily
  • Actionable insights required from aggregate data analysis
Technology
  • Python
  • GO
  • AWS
Services
  • Custom Software Development
  • Data Science
  • Data Analytics
  • Online Discourse Expertise
  • Advanced Web App Development
  • Mobile App Development
  • UI/UX Design
  • Development Operations & Cloud Hosting
  • Security
  • Strategic Partnership

After watching disinformation dominate the 2016 election news, our client’s leadership wanted to leverage their past successes in social listening and analysis to create a new kind of system: one that could detect disinformation as it started to spread through bot networks and infect actual human public discourse. Their vision was to then use this data, combined with semantic analysis to create factual counter-messaging that would engage the same audiences where the disinformation was being most shared.

To do this, they needed a system that could detect bots and bad actors early on and track their disinformation as it went viral, as well as apply machine learning and semantic analysis to its content. This system would need to be able to deconstruct and analyze both the messages that were being transmitted and the audiences they were being transmitted to - giving key insights to fact checking content creators and distributors.

Using a combination of commercial technology, unique custom software and a proprietary social listening application, the RPC team helped our client create a unique tech workflow that allowed their internal team to accurately measure and analyze the public discourse surrounding certain topics and keywords down to the local level.

Why RightPlace

Expertise:

The RPC Team was selected due to their proven expertise with Search systems and the technical requirements of large scale data acquisition, management and analysis. In a critical period where the company needed to prove the business viability of their tech, the RPC Team was able to step in and provide quick tech and workflow solutions that allowed them to make those critical first few sales and satisfy their clients’ real-world needs.

Customer first model:

While we are always very hands on with our clients, this project represented a true strategic partnership between our firm and our client’s. We acted as their Technology department and our leadership filled the critical role of CTO during their startup phase. Once their lines of business had been more clearly established, the RPC team handed off those roles and controls to the internal team - seamlessly transferring the ownership of their flagship product inside the organization.

Technology Choice:

Here at RPC, we know there are many different technology choices out there and it can get confusing when trying to find the right fit. On this project, we worked with our client through several iterations of their primary tech stack as we tried to determine the best methods of integrating some critical third party elements.

How We Work

01

Diagnose before prescribing

We clarify the real blocker before recommending a tool, platform, or build.

02

Measure what matters

We focus on practical improvements: cleaner handoffs, clearer data, faster execution, and less manual work.

03

Build for operators

Our work has to make sense for the people who actually use the system.

About RightPlace Consulting

Since 2013, RPC has helped organizations build systems, modernize workflows, improve visibility, automate recurring work, and create software that supports real business operations. Our goal is practical improvement: better handoffs, clearer data, less manual work, stronger execution, and measurable relief for the teams doing the work.

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Our primary goal is always to ensure that our clients have the right strategic direction and technical solution to match their challenges. Our team has proven success across a wide variety of technologies in the service offerings below.

  • Operational Performance Sprint

    A focused diagnostic engagement to identify the operational blockers costing your business time, revenue, customer experience, or team capacity — then define the right path to fix them.

  • Workflow & Process Improvement
    We help teams map messy workflows, identify friction, and replace recurring manual steps with clearer processes, automation, integrations, or internal tools.

  • Data, Reporting & Dashboards
    We help clean up data flows, connect systems, and create practical dashboards and reports that show what is happening across pipeline, delivery, operations, customer follow-up, and revenue-impacting work.

  • CRM, Sales & Customer Handoffs
    We help diagnose CRM friction, improve sales and customer handoffs, clean up follow-up workflows, and make CRM systems more useful to the teams that rely on them.

  • Web Intake & Lead Flow
    We improve the path from website activity to team action through better forms, routing, alerts, qualification flows, notifications, and follow-up systems.

  • AI & Automation Opportunity Mapping
    We identify where AI or automation can remove manual work, improve visibility, reduce follow-up gaps, or speed up recurring workflows — and where a simpler fix is better.

  • Application Development
    When an operational blocker cannot be solved with an off-the-shelf tool, RPC can design and build scoped internal applications, portals, workflow tools, and customer-facing systems that fit the way your business actually runs.

  • Mobile & Field Tools
    We help teams in the field access the workflows, forms, notifications, and operational data they need through mobile-friendly web apps and mobile application development.

  • Cloud, DevOps & System Reliability
    We help improve hosting, deployment, monitoring, and infrastructure practices so critical tools stay reliable, secure, and maintainable.

  • UI/UX Design
    We design interfaces that make operational tasks clearer, faster, and easier for teams in the office, in the field, or on the move.

  • Software Security
    We help teams reduce operational and technical risk through practical security improvements, safer implementation patterns, and better visibility into system vulnerabilities.