When you want to find out information about a subject or a person, what do you do? If you’re like most people, you jump on the Internet and do some searching. Well, so does everyone else, including lawyers and insurance companies and that means that anything you post can and will be used either for or against you.
A big and continually growing threat to the outcome of personal injury cases is social media. Facebook is by far the leader in online sleuthing. With well over 1 billion users throughout the world, Facebook is the “go to” site for investigators to find out just what the claimant has been up to.
Twitter is just as useful as Facebook in debunking personal injury claims. Twitter has over 100,000 new users every day and it too is a great resource for “checking up” on claimants. Close behind Twitter is LinkedIn which is known as the most popular professional networking site. You can bet that most attorneys, insurance adjusters, and other professionals have a presence on LinkedIn and can easily see what you’re up to.
The list of social media outlets doesn’t stop there. Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram are also places that can guarantee your case will backfire if you have uploaded photos or videos that make the extent of your injury questionable.
You’ve been injured and deserve compensation. Think twice before you post anything online as posts and photos can be easily misinterpreted. For instance, let’s say your knee was injured in an accident and it’s really painful to stand on it. The doctor has suggested that you stay off it and use a cane if you have to walk more than a couple of steps. You truly are injured. But, suddenly a photo of you appears in social media with you standing upright (without a cane) and smiling as if you were not uncomfortable. The truth is that you were just hamming it up for just a moment. What wasn’t seen in the picture was that after a few seconds, you nearly collapsed from the pain of doing that stupid stunt. See how easy it is to misinterpret a post or photo? And it happens all of the time. Don’t let it happen to you. Think before you post!
Talk to your attorney about any posts you think may be in question so that he or she can take proactive measures.