Introduction to Social Media Investigation Jennifer Golbeck-SyngressEnglish | Size: 59.30 MB
Category: e-Books In the fall of 2014, a social worker made two posts on her Facebook account. Before
heading into court, she wrote “I'm in court tomorrow for a case where there is a high
level of domestic violence amongst many things….” The next day, when she came
out of the trial, she said “It's powerful to know that … children's lives have just mas-
sively changed for the better and now they are safe and protected from harm and have
every hope for the future….”
The mother of the child in the case found these posts after looking up the social
worker online. Although the social worker thought her posts were private, they were
not. They also included a map showing the location of the courthouse from which the
last message had been posted. The mother filed a complaint, claiming the posts were
a violation of confidentiality rules, and the social worker was sanctioned. 1
This is an example of a social media investigation by a private citizen that led to
real consequences. Although the outcome itself might be debated further, it neverthe-
less shows the power of social media as an investigative tool.