# FAQ

## Using the Platform

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<summary><strong>How do I start making queries?</strong></summary>

Queries are made by selecting the desired Analysis Tool and entering a keyword or phrase in the search box.

Basic search allows users to include single words or phrases and it will automatically focus solely on the content field of posts and replies. No need to put Boolean operators here (more on those below) as phrases with a space in them will be normalized during processing.

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<summary><strong>What is the difference between basic, boolean, and advanced search?</strong></summary>

* Boolean Search is an easy-to-use and industry standard method of research. It uses specific logical operators - AND, OR, NOT, “, \*, etc. - to connect keywords and phrases, allowing you to narrow, broaden, or refine search results in databases and search engines.&#x20;
* Advanced Search queries all metadata fields (not just the content field of posts/replies) to deepen the surface area available for research. That means users can search for posts by channel name, external media, and many other metadata fields. &#x20;

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<summary><strong>What is the difference between the Analysis Tools (Discover, Timeline, Link Counter, and Activity)?</strong></summary>

All Analysis Tools search the same datasets, but visualize the data differently. Discover is used to view the content of specific posts and media that contain your search term. Timeline shows the volume of content across time and is used to analyze trends. Link Counter aggregates URLs within posts that contain your keyword. Activity aggregates the users that have made the most posts that contain your given keyword or phrase. &#x20;

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## Data Access & Validation

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<summary><strong>What platforms does Open Measures collect data from?</strong></summary>

Many! Check out a sampling of our sources [here](https://openmeasures.io/platform) or in the sources filter on the left side of the platform.

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<summary><strong>Do you make any endpoints available publicly?</strong></summary>

Yes! We have several public endpoints available for querying our data store, including the /content endpoint which returns raw data. It is worth noting that our public endpoints are rate limited at 39 requests per day. You can read more about our public endpoints in the API section of our documentation.

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<summary><strong>How can I validate results?</strong></summary>

If you make a request to the API or front end, you can then seek out the original post on the platform. You can do this either by the URL we store in the individual collected datapoint or by searching other available collections. In some cases, the post may no longer be retrievable on the original URL. In those instances, you can check for an archive using tools like the [Wayback Machine](https://archive.org/). Our datasets have been independently verified in articles by research teams including [New America](https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/reports/parler-and-the-road-to-the-capitol-attack/ii-what-we-know-about-parler-and-publicly-available-parler-data/), [ProPublica](https://www.propublica.org/article/rise-and-fall-terrorgram-inside-global-online-hate-network-frontline-telegram), and [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/01/1185623425/how-the-far-right-tore-apart-one-of-the-best-tools-to-fight-voter-fraud) among others. Open Measures has also been a part of many [academic](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375658549_Saying_what_we_mean_meaning_what_we_say_Managing_miscommunication_in_archaeological_prospection) and [conference](https://researchonline.stthomas.edu/esploro/outputs/journalArticle/Digging-Out-From-Under-Section-50-a/991015131588803691) papers. The [first](http://workshop-proceedings.icwsm.org/pdf/2020_18.pdf) was our early model and the second published our first open-source Parler dataset.

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## Partnerships & Paid Plans

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<summary>What's the difference between your free and paid offerings?</summary>

Our free app and API include data from a subset of our complete library of sources. The free tier is limited to historic data (all data is at least six months old) and rate-limited to 39 requests per day.

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<summary><strong>I need a higher frequency or volume than the public app allows… What are my options?</strong></summary>

Our paid plans are built for organizations running high-volume research and monitoring workflows.[ Get in touch](https://openmeasures.io/demo) to find the right fit.

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<summary><strong>Who do you partner with?</strong></summary>

We partner with a mix of organizations and individuals that are all trying to better understand, and respond to, the spread of harmful online content. Organizations include communications teams, civil society orgs, press desks, corporate security teams, and universities.

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<summary><strong>How can I contribute to your open-source efforts?</strong></summary>

We're proud partners with Open Source Collective, our fiscal host. Contributions from the community make our dedicated work in the open-source ecosystem possible. All contributions only serve our free, open-source platform. You can make a one-time or recurring contribution [here](https://opencollective.com/openmeasures).

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## Citing & Research

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<summary><strong>How do I formally cite Open Measures in an academic paper?</strong></summary>

Open Measures. (YEAR). Open Measures \[Computer software]. <https://openmeasures.io/>

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<summary><strong>How do I reference Open Measures in the body of my research or article?</strong></summary>

[Open Measures](http://openmeasures.io), an open-source threat intelligence and social media research platform

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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.openmeasures.io/docs/further-reading/faq.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.