The increase in the public’s use of social networking services, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn significantly impacts general counsel’s approach to litigation, investigations, and fraud prevention by providing a new avenue to search for potentially relevant information and evidence.
Social networking can be likened to Webmail on steroids. Social networking allows groups to connect; send and receive communications, pictures and videos; play games; and enjoy other forms of entertainment. Many individuals rely solely on social networking sites for their personal online communication due to the ability to interact with large groups of people. According to “Global Faces and Networked Places: A Nielson Report on Social Networking’s New Global Footprint,” “Two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit a social network or blogging site and the sector now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time.”1 The authors note that, globally, three out of every 10 people online visit Facebook.2
Evidence in Litigation
