Facebook was the top-visited website for 2010, beating out Google’s homepage, according to a Dec. 30, 2010, article in the Los Angeles Times . An April 7, 2009, article on Symantec Corp.’s website notes that two-thirds of the world’s Internet users access social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Smart litigators will know how to get evidence from these sites admitted into evidence.
These sites allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content, such as profile pages, comments, status updates and posted photos. The sites’ content can reveal a user’s opinions, activities, physical status and whereabouts — information that can be invaluable in a case. Of course, finding the information is one thing; getting it admitted into evidence at trial is quite another. While various evidentiary issues may arise while attempting admission, this article addresses tactics for authenticating social networking sites at trial.
