It’s Not What You Find, It’s Where You Find It
The temptation to perform DIY social media investigations can be compelling. After all, everyone from young children to seniors has engaged in one or more forms of social media. Conducting searches in-house often appears to be cost-effective – at least on the surface. However, the simplicity of engaging with social media is deceptive, and performing in-house social media investigations can present significant and potentially costly risks.
Search Bias
Many people are unaware that Google and other search engines adjust search results based on the person conducting the search. Elements such as search history and even location can slant the results of an online search, without the person conducting the search even realizing it. SMI Aware avoids search bias through our proprietary search technology.
Tipping Off Search Target
Conducting searches through social media can inadvertently tip off the subject. For instance, LinkedIn has a feature that alerts members when their profiles have come up during searches. This information could prompt subjects to begin destroying documents and other evidence before they can be recovered through discovery. By using a third-party service like SMI Aware, the risk of tipping off a search subject is greatly reduced.
False Positives
Fake news is more than a catchy phrase. Incorrect information and other misleading search results can lead to false positives. No existing scraping technology can evaluate data as efficiently and accurately as an expert human analyst. At SMI Aware, our highly skilled analysts work along with our proprietary data tool to provide evidence that will hold up in court.
Avoid the Costly Economy of DIY Searches
DIY and in-house social media searches using automated scraping technology are not worth the risk of obtaining inaccurate data. Moreover, such searches may be unethical and even illegal, with potentially costly legal and financial consequences. Check out our website to learn how SMI Aware conducts accurate, ethical searches. Contact us today to start your investigations.
