Recent changes to Facebook’s search function have left the social media investigation community in despair. Facebook’s “Graph Search” has been closed and it has been a major impediment for investigators, the Graph Search closure makes it more difficult to search for information that is crucial for online investigations. Until recently, most investigators have relied on automated programs to cull through an individual or claimant’s Facebook friends and associates to document an individual’s past location or activity. Now with the closure of Graph Search, automated software programs will yield less useful results and evidence. Combine that with the fact that a majority of individuals Facebook and social media profiles are not public, the likelihood of receiving useful results/evidence is getting slim. Groups like private and insurance investigators and law enforcement who have depended on these searches have been left blind.
Identifying alternative solutions.
In today’s rapidly changing social media platforms, what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. Integrating database analytic software with a human investigator is always the best approach to yield useful results. If a business requires investigations to be successful, it is essential that they have a variety investigative solutions and not be heavily reliant on one technique. Predominantly social media searches revolve on the premise that an individual’s friend, follower or acquaintance has tagged the individual in a past photo or posting exposing behavior that contradicts their statement/testimony. Presently on Facebook that capability has been eliminated, some social media search providers claim that they have a “workaround” and they can still access the Facebook’s profiles. Even if that were true, the “workaround” is not supported by the Facebook platform making the evidences admissibility to a court of law questionable at best.
A technique that is producing great investigative results and providing information that social media searches traditionally provided is unmanned surveillance. Covert unmanned surveillance can be deployed in almost any environment for several days at a location can provide up to date and detailed information:
- Who an individual is associating with.
- An individual’s daily activity.
- An individual’s daily schedule.
Best of all, extended coverage unmanned surveillance cost a little more than a traditional social media search. If you feel that you are not obtaining the results or intel that you have received in the past, please contact us for more information.
Recent Comments