Tag: Social Media Posts

The Online Personality of Your Subject

Is the online personality of a person different from their in person personality? I recently watched a documentary on Netflix called, “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.” The docuseries is about a Canadian college student, Elisa Lam, who was a guest of the hotel in 2013. She disappeared and was missing for a period of time around some very unusual circumstances. I won’t tell you anymore, in case you want to watch it.

Her Tumblr account was an open book. Tumblr is a social media platform that was very popular during this time frame. Elisa Lam used it like a diary and in the documentary it is explained in detail what was obtained from the scrubbing of that open source information (OSINT). Her personality came through loud and clear through analyzing her social media posts.

Online Personality

When it comes to pulling online activity from social media, blogs, forums, etc. on your person of interest, personality plays an important role. Everyone in the investigation’s field knows that a person who is narcissistic for example, will provide you with a treasure of information online. In some cases, perhaps even more than you might need.

But what about all those people in between? People approach social media differently and there are many factors to be considered.

Two Major Personality Differences

One would think that an introvert would be non-social but that is not necessarily true. Consider some actors or comedians. Most seem like extraverts by the way they conduct themselves publicly. However, when interviewed, many of them say they are more introverted.

What are some common traits of Introverts?

  • Introverts in social media care about their privacy.
  • They tend to only accept friend requests from people they know.
  • They really don’t care about the number of “likes”.
  • Most likely unaware of friend requests.
  • Will unfollow or delete you.

What are some common traits of extraverts?

  • Extraverts don’t worry about their privacy.
  • They are more inclined to accept invitations from people they don’t know.
  • Extraverts care very much about the “likes” & shares.
  • They do pay attention to friend requests.
  • Most will keep all of their connections close.

 From a psychology point of view we can take a look at “Introvert vs. Extrovert: A Look at the Spectrum and Psychology.  The article points out the following. “How extroverted we are can have a huge bearing on our day-to-day life across a multitude of contexts and it’s important to note that there’s no ‘better’ level of extroversion/introversion – both ends of the spectrum have their advantages and disadvantages but by understanding where we fall on the scale we can address areas in which we’re perhaps lacking.”

Personality predicts what people do on social media.

A large body of research on social media use and personality has focused on the Big 5 personality traits, the most widely accepted trait theory. When people are asked to rate how much different traits characterize them, those traits cluster into five groups:

Knowing and understanding some of this may be of help in your next investigation. It is well worth it to take a look at your subject’s online activity to reveal glimpses into their personality.

Wait…Where Did That Social Media Post Go?

What happened to that social media post you saw yesterday during your recent online investigation? Are you kicking yourself that you did not capture that post when you saw it? It can happen and very often does. The old adage, what is here today, is gone tomorrow, is something that happens all of the time, especially in social media. It may suddenly be changed from “public” to “private” at any point. The user’s entire profile can be deleted at any time. Where will that leave you and your investigation?

Largent V. Reed

Back in 2011 this was not an issue as social media was just starting to grow. In a personal injury lawsuit, Largent v. Reed, the plaintiff claimed that a recent accident had left her with severe physical and mental pain. During the trial, defendants presented her post-accident photos posted to her Facebook profile. These photos revealed the plaintiff was clearly feeling well enough to engage in her daily activities and exercising at her gym on a regular basis.

Fast forward to 2020 and things have changed. People are more aware of what they post and use user names that are different than their real name. Let me give you a recent example. One of our clients requested a deep scan from us for a case that involved fraud. We conducted the scan and produced the report capturing the subject’s Facebook account. Scans include live URL’s as well as screen shots showcasing all publicly available data. Once given to the attorney, he had a question about one of the posts specifically. When attempting to click on the link within the profile post, he came to a dead end. We did capture a screenshot, which in most cases is sufficient for investigative purposes. However, time is critical when conducting this type of research. Looking a little more closely at one of the posts was no longer possible.

Web Preservation

Preserving digital data is something many attorneys are starting to take a serious look at and in some cases are requesting from their private investigators. Judges are getting stricter when it comes to allowing social media as evidence in court. Not all cases make it to court of course, but preserving social media may be that extra step that your clients may want you to take.

Social media posts can be altered quickly, often at the advice of opposing counsel. Be sure not to wait too long to capture the data you need and in some cases, be sure to preserve that data.