Social media research for litigation

Manitoba Bar AssociationLegal Research Section Meeting

Social Media Research for Employment Cases

David WhelanManager, Legal InformationThe Law Society of Upper [email protected] • @davidpwhelan

Walnuts

NARROW THE FIELDWrangling the Possibilities

What are Canadians Visiting?

Facebook

StumbleUpon

Youtube

Twitter

Other

44%

37%

6%

5%

1%

StatCounter, Top 7 Social Media Sites in Canada, October 2010 to September 2011 http://gs.statcounter.com/#social_media-CA-monthly-201010-201109-bar

Individual is author,

personal contentPosting links to

content, less scope for personal info

Who Uses Social Media?

• 50% of Canadians have social profile

18 to 34 year olds 35 to 54 year olds 55 and over0%

25%

50%

75%

100%86%

62%

43%

Ipsos Reid Inter@ctive Reid Report April 2011 http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5286

What Social Media?

Ipsos Reid Inter@ctive Reid Report April 2011 http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5286

Facebook LinkedIn Twitter0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%85%

6%1%

86%

14% 19%

2009 2011

<

GETTING A HANDLEE-mail and Web Site Address As Starting Point

Google Social

Personalized Google

• Turn off personalization to start with– Type in your search

– Click your into the location box URL after the ?http://www.google.com/search?q=%22david+whelan%22&hl...

– Add pws=0& to the search URLhttp://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=%22david+whelan%22&hl...

– Hit ENTER to resubmit your search query with personalization turned off

Personalized (pws=1) De-Personalized (pws=0)

Personalized Google

@gmail.com

Look for Related Sites

Domain Names

Search Handles

Focus

• Google and Bing

your search terms site:targetsite.com

• Examples:

“brian bowman” site:twitter.com

davidpwhelan site:google.com

Site Specific Search

E-MAIL @ & #HASHTAGS IGNOREDSpecial Characters DO Upset Us

Site Specific Search - Google

Search Engines Ignore Special Characters

Web search engines often ignore @ sign in e-mail addresses

AVATARSYou Never Forget a Face

Search for Pictures

Tineye.com compares photos; is avatar on multiple sites?

Compare Pictures Online

GETTING ACCESSPublic and Private Profiles

Getting Access

PUBLIC – No Account Required

PUBLIC –Account Required

PRIVATE

Getting Access

• Don’t be creepy– “Public” information what you’re looking for– Research is often untraceable and fake account

won’t hide it if it’s not– Don’t friend or follow to gain access

• Lock down your own accounts– Avoid leaving traces (LinkedIn)– Block unintended following, friends, tagging

Facebook Pages have Insights; profiles do not

Hard to Track You

Other Web sites and blogs may have own tracking analytics (screenshot of David Whelan’s Google Analytics map)

Easier to Track Web Site Visitors

Think About What Trail You Are Leaving

TRY THE SITE’S OWN SEARCH

Public search results on LinkedIn.com

Linkedin Public Results

LinkedIn.com advanced search form (requires account)

Linkedin Private Results

Location services: low usage, but time/day aware if content exists

Location Checkin Sites

2. Click on any result to a tweet (posting) and you will see the Twitter interface

1. Search Google for a Twitter user ON Twitter

davidpwhelan site:twitter.com

3. Search!

Access Twitter’s Search

http://twitter.com/#!/search-advanced

Advanced Search on Twitter

Advanced Search on Twitter

Search on Facebook

THERE’S AN APP FOR THATUse Facebook’s Internal Apps For Better Search

Better Search on Facebook - Apps

EXTERNAL SEARCH

Firehose is Very Expensive

Bing and Google Have Social Search

Topsy Retrieves Blogs and Twitter

Topsy Retrieves Blogs and Twitter

Alternative Facebook Search

Alternative Facebook Search

Alternative Facebook Search

RELATIONSHIPSFriends, Followers, Lend Me Your Clicks

Who is Talking to Whom?

Relationships Matter

• Facebook users can tag people in their photos– Can be tagged from OUTSIDE own profile

Tagged photos as evidence: see Lalonde v. Lalonde, unpublished Kentucky Court of Appeals case, 2/25/2011

Saving What You Find

• Images: right-click and SAVE IMAGE AS• Twitter– Click on the DATE to get single posting– Visitmix.com Archivist

• Other sites– Screen capture (ALT + PRTSCN) and paste– Screen capture into video (Screencast-o-

matic.com, similar) to capture entire process

Pull Up Just One Twitter Post

http://www.visitmix.com/labs/archivist-desktop/

Create a Twitter Archive

Conclusion

• Identify sources and names/handles• Facebook most likely source but look around• Use search and browsing on social media sites• Use search from outside the social media sites

to uncover additional information• Consider social relationships as possible

locations of relevant information

Questions?

• Thank you

• David Whelan• [email protected]• @davidpwhelan