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.

This book will show you how to find people on social media, what types of data
are available on different sites, how to access the information on the most popular so-
cial media sites, and introduce some advanced techniques for understanding people
that you may choose to learn more about.
Social media can connect people and help them maintain and support relation-
ships from all parts of their lives. It lets us share and interact with one another in
countless ways. People can use social media to build up and portray their online
identity—sharing everything from major life events to what they ate for breakfast
this morning. All that sharing and interaction leaves behind a long, complicated, and
informative trail about a person's personality, motivations, friends, activities, patterns
of behavior, and actions. That makes social media a powerful tool for investigators.
Just what do people share? Almost everything about themselves. Social media
sites are full of:
• demographic information;
• lists of friends, family, and associates;
• logs of activities, preferences, and favorites;
• maps showing places a person goes and how frequently;
• time-stamped posts that indicate where a person was and when; and
• the content of the posts themselves, where people detail their thoughts, feelings,
and ideas.