social media Archives

Untangling the Web: The Power and Pitfalls of Social Media Threads

In the realm of social media, Instagram introduces Threads, a captivating new application that offers users a fresh and engaging experience. Threads, which requires users to have an Instagram account, was created to compete with Twitter. Upon downloading and launching the app, individuals are presented with the option to either create a new profile or seamlessly log in using their existing Instagram account credentials.

Threads welcomes users to customize their profiles by crafting unique bios and incorporating relevant links. Moreover, it grants the ability to effortlessly import information from their Instagram accounts, fostering a smooth transition into the Threads platform. With the flexibility to choose between a public or private profile, individuals can curate their online presence according to their desired level of privacy.

To enhance user connectivity, Threads also offers the opportunity to follow the same accounts as their Instagram counterparts. This feature allows for a seamless integration of existing social networks, enabling individuals to effortlessly stay connected with their preferred accounts across platforms.

With Threads, Instagram introduces a dynamic social media experience that amalgamates the familiarity of its predecessor with exciting new features, providing users with a truly captivating and immersive platform.

Privacy and Personal Data Collection

As you create your own account and begin to follow the prompts to join Threads, the following content is provided to you. Once you read the terms you are able to join the platform.

Powered by Instagram

Threads is part of the Instagram platform. We will use your Threads and Instagram information to personalize ads and other experiences across Threads and Instagram.

The fediverse

Future versions of Threads will work with the fediverse, a new type of social media network that allows people to follow and interact with each other on different platforms, like Mastodon.

Your Data

By joining Threads, you agree to the Meta Terms and Threads Supplemental Terms and acknowledge you have read the Meta Privacy Policy and Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy.

Is Thread’s a Safe App to Use?

Cyber Security experts and privacy experts warn consumers of the dangers associated with this platform.

In a recent CBS News article an associate professor of criminology and justice studies at Drexel University warns users to be on the lookout for privacy issues. The app is currently not available in the European Union, as they have strict privacy laws in place. Something to take note of since they have better consumer protection laws in place.

Personal data is collected through threads including health and fitness, financial information, contacts, browsing history, and location.

Although there are privacy concerns many users do feel as though their personal data, the success of Threads so far clearly shows many do not care about the personal data collected.

Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s head, confirmed a significant milestone on June 5^th stating, “100 million people signed up for Threads in five days. I’m not sure I can wrap my mind around that fact. It’s insane; I can’t make sense of it.”

As this application continues to grow in popularity, it is being compared to its rival Twitter. Some are even calling Threads “The Twitter Killer”. Here’s why:

Threads is a text-based app allowing for pictures and videos to be uploaded as well. Users can have real-time conversations with one another allowing text posts to have a 500-character limit. With a similar appearance to Instagram Threads allows for users to share their posts from Threads directly to Instagram Stories.

According to CNN Business, despite Threads success and gained users, it is missing a lot of features Twitter currently offers. There is no desktop version available, direct messaging isn’t offered, and you are unable to edit posts.

Can you Search for Someone Through Threads?

As a Private Investigator, or someone conduct an online investigation, or social media investigation, this application is just another one to add to your list. If your person of interest has an Instagram account, checking Threads will be an important additional step to take when searching. Your subject may or may not have a public or private Threads account. According to Sportskeeda a gaming and tech site, “If someone you’re trying to follow has yet to join Threads, you will automatically follow them when that person joins the platform. Apart from that, you also have the option to follow specific friends by searching their names. Tap the Search Bar on the Search page to find your Instagram friend. Once you find them, tap the Follow button next to their profile name. You won’t find your Instagram friends in the search results if they haven’t joined Threads yet.

Will I be able to see a Public Threads account?

According to the Instagram help center, if a Threads profile is public, it is visible to everyone on Threads. You are also able to see the private profiles they follow and the private profiles that are following that account, like how Instagram currently works. Anyone and everyone will be able to see posts and feed on a public Threads account. Anyone can share links to an individual’s threads and all content is available to be shared through Instagram Stories. When public, any other users can share, repost, or quote another individual’s Thread content. Anyone on or off Threads can also embed another users’ posts.

As additional features are offered, and this app continues to gain traction more searching capabilities may become available. As always, this is something we will be monitoring at E-CHATTER, stay tune further additional information.

The Shift from Posts to Stories

Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable shift from traditional social media posting to stories. Stories are short-lived, vertical format posts that are available for 24 hours on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

There are a few reasons why this shift has occurred. First, stories are more visually engaging than traditional social media posts. They allow users to share a series of photos or videos in a more dynamic way, often with added features like filters, stickers, and text overlays. This makes stories more appealing to younger generations who value visual content.

Second, stories are more ephemeral than traditional social media posts. Because they disappear after 24 hours, users may feel more comfortable sharing candid, unpolished content without worrying about it living on forever. This makes stories feel more authentic and raw, which can be a refreshing change from the curated feeds that dominate traditional social media.

Third, stories are often prioritized by social media algorithms. This means that users are more likely to see stories from people they follow at the top of their feed, making it a more effective way to stay up to date with friends and influencers.

Overall, the shift from social media posting to stories reflects a desire for more dynamic, authentic, and visually engaging content that feels more personal and less polished.

Several social media platforms have adopted the stories feature, which allows users to share short-lived, vertical format posts that disappear after 24 hours. Here are some of the most popular social media platforms that have stories:

Which Social Media Platforms Have Stories?

Instagram: Instagram was one of the first social media platforms to introduce stories, and it remains one of the most popular platforms for stories. Instagram stories allow users to share photos and videos with added features like stickers, text overlays, and music.
Snapchat: Snapchat is another social media platform that is well-known for its stories feature. Snapchat stories allow users to share photos and videos with added filters and effects.
Facebook: Facebook introduced stories in 2017, allowing users to share photos and videos in a format similar to Instagram stories.
WhatsApp: WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, also has a stories feature called Status. WhatsApp Status allows users to share photos, videos, and text updates that disappear after 24 hours.
YouTube: YouTube has a stories feature called Reels, which allows creators with over 10,000 subscribers to share short-form video content with their audience.
Twitter: Twitter has a stories feature called Fleets, which allows users to share text, photos, and videos that disappear after 24 hours.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn has a stories feature that is currently available only to users in certain countries. LinkedIn stories allow users to share short-form video content related to their professional lives.

The Future of Social Media Stories

The future of social media stories looks promising, as they continue to be a popular feature across various social media platforms. Here are some potential trends that may shape the future of social media stories:

Continued innovation: Social media platforms will continue to innovate and expand the features of their stories, such as adding new filters, animations, and interactive elements to keep users engaged and entertained.
Integration with e-commerce: Social media stories may become more integrated with e-commerce, allowing users to purchase products directly from a story or swipe up to view a product page.
Increased use by businesses: Businesses are already using social media stories to reach customers and promote products, and this trend is expected to continue. As stories become more interactive and integrated with e-commerce, businesses may use them as a primary marketing tool.
Growth in private stories: Private stories, which are only visible to select friends or followers, may become more popular as users seek to share more personal content in a more intimate setting.

Greater emphasis on video: Video content is becoming increasingly popular on social media, and stories are no exception. Platforms may place greater emphasis on video content in their stories, such as by allowing longer videos or adding more video editing features.

They Can See You

Several social media platforms allow users to see who has viewed their stories, while others do not offer this feature. Here are some of the most popular social media platforms that allow users to see who views their stories:

Instagram: Instagram allows users to see a list of people who have viewed their story. Users can access this list by swiping up on their story.
Snapchat: Snapchat allows users to see a list of people who have viewed their story. Users can access this list by swiping up on their story.
Facebook: Facebook allows users to see a list of people who have viewed their story. Users can access this list by clicking on the eye icon located at the bottom of their story.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn allows users to see a list of people who have viewed their story. Users can access this list by clicking on the “views” icon located at the bottom of their story.

It’s important to note that while some social media platforms allow users to see who has viewed their stories, others do not offer this feature. For example, Twitter’s Fleets feature does not currently allow users to see who has viewed their stories. Additionally, users may only be able to see who has viewed their story if their account is set to public, as private accounts may not allow this feature.

How Can You Search Stories as an Investigator?

As an investigator, searching social media stories can be a valuable tool in gathering information, but it may not always be easy or straightforward.

The ability to search social media stories will depend on the platform in question. Some platforms, like Instagram, allow users to search for stories using keywords or hashtags, while others, like Snapchat, do not have a search feature for public stories.

Additionally, stories are often ephemeral and disappear after 24 hours, which can make them difficult to locate and collect as evidence. However, it is possible to capture screenshots or screen recordings of stories as they appear in real-time, which can be useful for preserving evidence.

It is important to note that accessing and collecting information from social media stories must be done in accordance with the platform’s terms of service and applicable laws and regulations. As an investigator, you should be familiar with the legal and ethical guidelines surrounding the collection and use of social media data.

Overall, the future of social media stories is likely to be shaped by continued innovation, increased integration with e-commerce, and a greater emphasis on personalization and video content. Stay tuned! It’s only the beginning.

Venmo Tightens Security For Users

Back in May, we posted about Venmo, the app powered by PayPal that allows users to easily send and receive money. What surprises many people, is how public the app is. To date, you can find just about anyone on the app. Not only can you find their profile, if it is set to public, you can see who they are sending money to and sometimes why.

How Venmo Works

This person-to-person app allows you to easily send or receive money from friends, family, or co-workers. Simply click on the “Pay or Request” button, type in your friend’s email, phone number, or username. You can also scan a QR code from the app if your friend is nearby. Venmo is also free when you link your bank account to the app.

It recently drew a lot of attention when someone noticed several members of the Biden family on the app. It brought attention to the security of the app to everyone.

eMarketer.com published a recent article outlining the changes. “PayPal-owned Venmo will introduce new fees and updates to its platform that’ll give users more control over their accounts and add an extra layer of protection for some transactions, per Android Police.”

Privacy Changes for Users

“Privacy and security updates: Users can now change the visibility of their friends list to public, private, or friends. They can also opt out of being seen on other users’ friends lists. And effective July 20, Venmo will expand eligibility for the Purchase Protection Program for transactions sent to business accounts and all payments marked for goods and services by the sender.”
eMarketer.com

It gives the user back the power in terms of who they want to view their information. Some people may view the app as secure since it is a go between your bank account and your venmo account.

Venmo & Social Media

The Washington Post recently published an article about how one user used Venmo to collect money from strangers. Think of a “Go Fund Me” Venmo style. Here are some unique stories of how people use Venmo for crowdfunding:

When Kori Roy was heading out on the final leg of a road trip to celebrate her wife’s 29th birthday in April, she decided to add a message to the rear window of her Hyundai: “Help us get to New Orleans!” she wrote, adding her Venmo and Cash App accounts.

TikTok and Venmo have been a match made in heaven. Many TikTok users were using Venmo as a source to fuel their road trips. People have been using the app to ask for money for all kinds of things. The image below is an example.

Anytime money is being exchanged, one needs to be cautious. It seems for now anyway, there is a level of trust people have with Venmo. Maybe because it is a PayPal app and PayPal seems more secure to most people.

However, there are scams to be aware of. Unlike credit or debit cards, once money has left your account it is gone for good. it is almost impossible to recoup the loss should you send money to a scammer.

2021 Social Media Predictions

Social Media exploded this year. In July, the number of social media users reached 4.57 billion (which equates to half the population), as predicted by Hootsuite and We Are Social, with 346 million new users joining in the 12 months prior.
Social Media continues to evolve and we are here to take a look at what is to come and what you need to keep track of as we move into 2021.

Facebook

Algorithm Changes Has Facebook fueled the political fire? The answer is yes, and they are making changes through their algorithm feed to diffuse it. Their goal is to reduce extremist group content and move towards neutral grounds. Mainstream media will take the lead through newsfeeds rather than smaller political groups. With specific algorithm changes as this, broad effects could create additional changes to other aspects of Facebook. This is something to be mindful of for open source intelligence purposes and online searches.
Click Here for a more in depth look.

Live Videos
Tom Jarvis, Wilderness Agency:“The pandemic has accelerated our need to share in real-time through live video, with Facebook reporting a 50% increase in viewers watching live videos in March compared with the month previously. With a vaccine in sight and “normal life” returning in some form soon, we will see a huge increase in us all sharing our real-world experiences in real-time.”

Instagram

Stories
Stories came out in 2016 with short video sequences that disappear within a 24 hour period. In 2020 Stories began loosing it’s popularity as Reels took off. According to Social Media Examiner, it’s gained in popularity 10 times the number of views for stories or normal posts.
Reels
Instagram recently changed it’s formatting, offering a small video button at the very bottom of the screen. Reels is sometimes compared to TikTok as it was launched to compete with the app. We will see this feature gradually shift the direction of Instagram. We could potentially see Reels lead our IG newsfeed instead of posts.
Click Here for more a more in depth look at Instagram changes.

TikTok

Social Media is Constantly Changing.
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OSINT Research & False Positives

A great deal of time must be spend on OSINT in order to weed out false positives – good intelligence vs bad intelligence. The degree of reliability and authenticity. The importance of an accurate starting point is critical when taking your research on a person of interest to the world wide web.

We will dive into this in more detail in the weeks to come. For now, let’s begin with how to identify a fake photo. Hiding your real identity has never been easier on the web and social media is the scammer’s friend when it comes to this. A photo may be a false positive because while it appears to be the person, in actuality, it is a fake.

Can You Tell the Difference?

Take a close look at the photos above. One is a real person and one is a computer generated photo. Which is which? Not so easy, right? This is something that all of us in the open source research, law enforcement and private investigations industries will need to be proficient at. A great site to test your skills is Which Face is Real?

You may wonder how this is even done. You are not alone! Machine learning has been used to customize and generate realistic photos. It is called StyleGAN.

StyleGAN was originally an open-source project by NVIDIA to create a generative model that could output high-resolution human faces. The basis of the model was established by a research paper published by Tero Karras, Samuli Laine, and Timo Aila, all researchers at NVIDIA.

(source: https://heartbeat.fritz.ai/)

What To Look For

According to Which Face is Real, look for the following things:

Teeth and Hair: Hair and teeth are very difficult to render realistically. Often teeth are odd or asymmetric. Look for a type of hallo over the hair or other odd imperfections.

Eye Glasses: Right now, it’s very hard for algorithms to generate realistic-looking eyeglasses. Take a close look at the style of the glasses. Many times one side will look different than the other side.

Background of the Image: Many times the background of an image is a give-away. Because the concentration is on the face alone, the background may show smudge marks or render unclear.

When in Doubt….

If you suspect your target is using a false identity, you can do your very own “fact checking”. Google image will allow you to upload an image to search the web for other images that look just like it.

One of our recent blog posts discussed this in further detail. Online Research: 3 Tips for Better Results. It is more important than ever to be sure you have the right tools in your tool box.

PS: If you guess the photo of the woman, you are correct! She is a real person.