Introduction to Social Media Investigation

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract

Social media can connect people and help them maintain and support relationships 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 leave 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. This introduction to Social Media Investigation lays out the foundations of what we need to learn to effectively investigate people ...