eChatter

It Takes a Village…

How often have you heard the term “it takes a village” – I’ve heard this mostly in relation to raising children. I think it now applies to social media.

More and more, when tragedies occur, the first thing we will hear is how their social media accounts gave clues or veiled indications that something was about to happen. This does not happen in all cases, of course, but it is heard more and more often. If that’s the case, why is more not being done?

Take the case of the recent Oregon shooting, the suspect’s social sites were allegedly filled with images of other shootings, guns, and the like. What’s more disturbing is that there was an anonymous chat circulating with a potential warning that this would be happening:

While the poster is listed as “anonymous”, why did no one involved alert authorities? In this instance, it was speculated that the other posters were like minded and were perhaps “egging him on.” However, perhaps if something was mentioned to someone, it could have been avoided.

On the flip side, a story recently made news where people DID act on what they saw. It was a widely circulated story about a young woman who was driving under the influence while live streaming using Periscope, an up and coming social media tool. Thankfully, as you can see from the bottom corner of the video, it is tagged with the city and state she is in. Part way through the video she also references a street name. People were chatting in response to her video, most encouraging her to not drive anymore, some simply not saying anything of substance. However, there were some who stepped up and called the local authorities; this woman was eventually arrested. Those who reported the incident likely saved her life and potentially others as well.

One of the potentially valuable benefits of the enhanced data collection methods in social media content is geotagged monitoring. Schools, law enforcement, social venues, and other similar entities are starting to realize the importance of this type of monitoring as a means of identifying potential threats in their community. By monitoring social data around their venue, they can be alerted to potential threats, or postings that indicate trouble in some way.

Of course not every community does this, or has the capability to do so. That’s why it takes a village – if everyone takes responsibility to report something “off” in social media, it can circumvent potential tragedies or help people in crisis.

Colleges & Social Media Threats: What Can Be Done?

With the horrific shooting in Oregon last week, there have been many threats to college campuses across the nation. Most have been unfounded, thankfully, but it raises an important question – how can law enforcement and colleges monitor for potential threats, and know when to take them seriously?

At this stage in the game, all perceived threats have to be taken seriously. While some will pose threats directly to the college itself, it is becoming more and more important for schools and law enforcement to monitor social media to look for potential threats on social sites.

Like finding a needle in a haystack, this is an undaunting task. Thanks to the evolution of social media monitoring, it can be easier than it has been. Using geography based monitoring programs, social content posted in the vicinity of an area can be monitored, with alerts sent for posts containing specific keywords, hashtags, or phrases that may warrant a closer look.

How can this help?

It can help identify those who are posting threats or content that may indicate potential trouble, both by user name and location. Geographic based monitoring can pinpoint coordinates for a specific location from which the user was posting content, which can be helpful in identifying those who are posting on anonymous sites, such as YikYak.

By using careful monitoring setup, schools and law enforcement can identify the potential for trouble by creating profiles of users who are posting content that may indicate they are struggling somehow, whether it be with mental health issues, school bullying, or depression/suicidal thoughts. Those users can then be more closely monitored, as can their connections with others, to possibly prevent tragedies such as the Oregon shooting.

Social monitoring can aid in investigation and arrest of those making threats. A recent article showed how a threat was made to the University of Central Arkansas. They were able to identify and prosecute the person who made the threat. While his first post on YikYak was more general and police could not make an arrest based on it (he simply posted “Just want to warn you guys now, don’t come to campus next Wednesday”), his second post was more specific and allowed police to move forward. In the second post, he said, “Fellow yaks, you seem like good people and I care for you, so if you read this, please stay in your dorms or off campus next Wednesday, I care too much for you all to fall victim of the event.” While it’s not clear from the article, it seems as though it is possible that police were watching the user’s activity more closely after the first, less specific, threat was made.

There are many times when clues are posted on social sites that are sadly found after the fact. With the public paying attention and reporting anything they see as potentially concerning, as well as the enhanced social media monitoring programs available, it is hopeful that more tragedies can be prevented in the future.

Do Lawyers Have a Responsibility To Mine Social Media Content?

Social media is a game changer in many ways, and litigation is no different. While social media has been the newest way to connect with friends and family, users are not always careful in what they post. At times, this may come back to haunt them. Add to that the fact that the amount of public information that is now readily available online, and you’ve got an entire new set of data to pull for litigation support.

I came across an interesting article that discusses, at length, the role of social media in litigation. Within this article, one lawyer poses the idea of responsibility as it relates to searching online information when preparing a case.

“Attorney George” is cited in the article sharing his thoughts on the importance of reviewing social media content as a part of trial preparation. He states, “We believe that running a social media search of clients, opponents, and witnesses is now part of the minimum level of due diligence expected of a competent litigator. Indeed, some courts have questioned whether lawyers who have not run Google searches on a defendant but are asserting that the person cannot be found have in fact made reasonable efforts to locate the defendant. In our view, it’s just a matter of time before malpractice claims begin to surface based on a failure to use information publicly available on the Internet.”

Since this is still new territory, so to speak, it raises a good point; can social media content be used for trial preparation, specifically when it comes to witness, defendant, or plaintiff research?

In one word: yes.

Social media monitoring has come a long way since we first entered the space back in 2007. It emerged as a way for brands to monitor what others were saying on social sites, but is much more extensive, thanks to users who like to share every moment of their lives with others. The technology behind it has evolved to a point where it goes beyond simple social sites to be all inclusive of online public content.

Google searches can provide preliminary, basic information about a person of interest; however, there is a lot of “touching” in that 1) one needs to confirm that they are correctly identifying a person, 2) that relevant data is found, with nothing missed, and 3) that the search goes beyond the first few pages of results.

Social media monitoring services have made this process easier and more streamlined. Many law firms and starting to outsource this practice, as service providers have the technology readily available to easily identify persons of interest and provide relevant results in a timely manner.

In addition to public facing content users post on social sites, a strong monitoring service can go well beyond a basic Google search and include:

Public data, including known addresses and phone numbers
Content posted on what is not considered “traditional” social sites, such as blog post comments, message boards, or commentary left on news articles
Content that was posted at the time of the social media research that may be deleted by the user by the time the trial hits. This is especially useful for content that may affect the case in some way.
Connections on social sites to other people, businesses, or entities that may be of interest and relate to the trial

I agree with the attorney cited in the article in that, at minimum, an online search should be done related to the case. Given that this information is so readily available, it will become more important for this to be done as time passes, and I anticipate that more law firms will turn toward professional social media monitoring service providers to assist with this task.

Social Media Helps Police With Drug Sales on Social Media

While social media has done some great things, there is one that isn’t so great: selling drugs just got easier.A simple hashtag such as #hmu (hook me up), #kush, or any variation including a drug name can get some attention. Surprisingly, simply posting these kinds of messages are legal; it becomes an illegal act once a sale is made.

How can social media monitoring help? There are tools now that have enhanced the way law enforcement can monitor social activity – through geographical monitoring using simple geographical fences coupled with hashtags or keywords, police can easily identify where this type of activity is happening, which can assist in identifying and stopping illegal activity.

Using our social media monitoring platform, we did a quick search for people posting images and content with the hashtag #kush – another name for marijuana. The heatmap below shows where people are posting content, and the frequency at which these posts are occurring across the country:

This can easily drill down to a specific state, city, or street block to see where content is coming from. This is extremely useful for law enforcement, and is another tool they are adding to their arsenal to help fight crime.

While this example highlights the ease in which drug seekers and/or sellers can be identified, it can also be used in many other ways, including:

Create a “fence” around a crime scene to identify possible witnesses that left the scene prior to police arriving.
Monitor content to be proactive in identifying potential school violence.
Identifying and monitoring gang activity, which can include location specific information

What once was seen as a tool for brands to connect with customers has morphed into an all encompassing tool. Law enforcement agencies are seeing the value of using social media monitoring, and specifically location based tools to assist in their efforts.

#Consent: Are You Sure You Have It?

Social media monitoring has made marketing a bit easier – with the birth of Instagram, Facebook, and the other myriad of image based social sites, customers have taken to documenting every move they make with pictures, whether it’s a nice dinner out, visiting an amusement park, or even running errands.

This is great for marketers, as often times customers’ pictures and commentary are better than any marketing content you’ve created. The additional win is the fact that you can engage with these customers, use their pictures & comments, and create a relationship.

But, is it that easy?

Yes and no. When you find a customer who has a great picture with a great caption, you think you’ve hit gold, since it completely mirrors your upcoming marketing campaign. Since you found it on social media, in a public space, you’re free to use it, right?

Not without consent. But, how do you define consent? Are customers giving consent by tagging your company in an image, or using a company generated hashtag? Possibly, but only if you’ve made it explicitly clear that by tagging or using a hashtag, customers are giving consent to use those pictures on the website, in marketing materials, etc. And it gets more murky if this disclaimer is not clearly visible on your site or social sites where this happens.

Below are some steps you can take to make sure you have consent before using those pictures. Some of the tips are even great for engagement purposes – after all, engagement IS part of the goal for social media marketing!

Create a consent based hashtag: despite being the subject of a recent news article on this subject, Crocs created a hashtag (#CrocsOK) that is used when a customer posts an image on a social site and Crocs comments on it. By replying with #CrocsOK” customers are giving their consent for the company to use the image and/or comments.
Comment publicly on the user’s image and ask for permission: this is a double whammy of positivity; first, it is out in the open that you are asking for consent to use a customer’s picture, and, when the customer replies, consent is easily proved. The added benefit? If other customers see that your company actively seeks out and uses customer images, they may be more inclined to post their own pictures and engage with the company’s social sites. Definitely a win-win situation!
Create a terms & conditions page and keep the URL handy: while many customers don’t tend to read the fine print, or even visit a company’s social site before posting their own pictures, it’s not a bad idea to create a page that lists your company’s social media usage terms & conditions. Include the URL on your social sites for added protection.
Be proactive: when you find customers who are talking and posting images around your brand, engage with them! Comment, like, and share posts, and encourage them to connect to your social sites. From there, create contests – in your post, be sure to state that the content shared may be used in marketing, and that by replying to the post, users are giving consent to this possibility. It’s no surprise that many customers talk about brands and are not connected to their social sites; this is where social monitoring and engagement come in handy to build relationships and follower bases.

Customers love attention from companies they support; in the majority of cases, customers will be thrilled for you to share their pictures in your marketing efforts. It’s when you use them without asking when it becomes a problem. Always take the side of caution and proceed carefully – the goal is to create relationships with customers, not damage them.