Chapter 9 S0CIAL MEDIA AS AN INVESTIGATIVE TOOL

• Jurisdiction: United States

Chapter 9 S0CIAL MEDIA AS AN INVESTIGATIVE TOOL

Elaine Carey

Katya Hirose

Most people use some form of social media, and the statistics are staggering. As of July 2013, Facebook alone reported a record 1.15 billion active monthly users.¹⁵⁴ Approximately 25 percent of those users do not use privacy settings at all.¹⁵⁵ Every second, two new users join LinkedIn, and social media is now the number one activity on the web.¹⁵⁶ Demographics are no longer limited to younger users, and the volume of usage will continue to grow.

The way people tend to communicate on social media also greatly differs from formal lines of communication such as work-related email exchanges. Online, people communicate in a much more casual manner and also tend to reveal quite a bit of personal information, either purposely or inadvertently. Even with the existence of privacy settings, much of that information and those communications are available to the general public and can be incredibly useful in gleaning additional information about a subject in an investigation. For example, one can learn about a subject's lifestyle through photos they post. Often, lists of friends or connections are also public. People freely list hobbies, hometown and other biographical information, as well as updates on future plans and social commentary. On business networking sites, people detail information about previous employment and education.

For a forensic accountant, ignoring social media leaves quite a bit of valuable information on the table. However, one thing to always keep in mind is that since information on social media is self-reported, it may require additional verification to determine whether or not something is true.

I. Where to Begin?

A. Paid Public Records Searches

If at all possible, it is very helpful to use paid public records sources to obtain additional identifying information about a subject. LexisNexis Accurint¹⁵⁷ or Thomson Reuters' CLEAR¹⁵⁸ are good places to start. TLO is another resource that is even better, as it utilizes more data points.¹⁵⁹ For example, a comprehensive TLO report will list email addresses possibly associated with a subject. While this information is not always available, it often is and can be invaluable in researching a subject, especially if the subject has a common name.

B. Email Address Searches

The email address search is a great starting place for commencing additional social media-based research. One reason is that many people use unique email handles. A handle includes the letters before the "@" symbol in an email address. Quite often, individuals will use the same handle in more than one place, such as in their email account and in their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest accounts. One easy way to begin a search is to use a search engine such as Google to search for instances of that exact email handle online. Such a search, assuming the handle is not very common or generic (like a subject's initials), may lead directly to links of social networking sites that can be further explored. The full email address may also be searched, but it will yield different results (where the full email appears on a blog or website). Likewise, the handle may be searched directly on a social networking site as well. For example, www.socialnetworkingsitesample.com/handle is a good place to begin.¹⁶⁰

Another way to begin research with only an email address at hand is to use another paid site, Spokeo.com. While not a foolproof guarantee of results (some searches may result in false name matches), Spokeo has a reverse email search that links the inputted email address to various online sites, including social networking sites, picture and video sites, and auction sites.

One should also always search a subject's name or email handle directly on social networking sites. Note that due to privacy settings, web searches and searches directly on social networking sites may yield different results.

C. Extending the Search to Linked Accounts and Names

Each new piece of information acquired is then used to uncover additional information. For example, it is worth noting that often an individual's accounts are linked. A subject's LinkedIn profile may list an instant messenger handle or Twitter account. A Facebook page may be linked to an Instagram or Pinterest account. It is important to be vigilant and "click through" anywhere possible.

Social networking sites also often list additional information that may not be obvious in official public records, like nicknames. Individuals sometimes also list additional blogs or personal websites¹⁶¹ that are attributable to them that can be further researched. BetterWhoIs¹⁶² may also be used to identify additional information about a registrant of a particular website.

D. Extending the Search Beyond U.S. Borders

An additional consideration when researching a non-U.S. national or a subject whose first language is not English is to look beyond just U.S.-centric social networking sites. For example, in Japan, Mixi is a popular social networking site.¹⁶³ Sina Weibo¹⁶⁴ is the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Tencent, which owns WeChat,¹⁶⁵ is also set to overtake even Facebook in its growth of user base.¹⁶⁶ For Russian speakers, Odnoklassniki¹⁶⁷ is popular, as well as Vkontakte,¹⁶⁸ which made headlines when background information about Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came to light.

The website www.searchenginecolossus.com is an international directory of search engines and may assist in locating additional resources in different countries.

II. Business vs. Personal Sites

A. Business Social Networking Sites

Different social networking sites will naturally yield different information. The most popularly used business networking site is LinkedIn;¹⁶⁹ however, there are numerous other specialized sites in existence. Depending in which industry the subject of the investigation works, it may be worthwhile to research blogs or other networking or news sites that pertain specifically to that industry. For example, message boards of cafepharma are often rife with pharmaceutical industry-related gossip.¹⁷⁰ LinkedIn groups, depending on privacy settings, may be useful as well.¹⁷¹Upstream Online¹⁷² is a good source for current news in oil and gas, and sites like VentureBeat¹⁷³ can be good sources of information about start-ups and Silicon Valley. General information sites like ZoomInfo¹⁷⁴ may also contain useful information. To search industry-specific sites, it is often helpful to search within a site by entering the following information into Google: Site: website.com "subject name." For example, entering the following terms into the Google search box, site: cafepharma.com "joseph jimenez" will yield results for instances of the name Joseph Jimenez being mentioned somewhere on the cafepharma website.

B. Personal Sites

While this chapter covers the...