Twitter Networking Tools

Twitter can also get your business in trouble
if you breach privacy laws.

Twitter Cheat Sheet

The value of twitter.com is in the slaves who plant tweets for the farmer to sell.

Twitter is a BIG part of the problem. And it doesn't seem to care .
Employee Uprisings Sweep Many Tech Companies. Not Twitter.
"You have a platform that's damaging people on a regular basis, and it's being used to target groups of people on a regular basis," said Leslie Miley, an engineer who left Twitter in 2015 after he said he became disillusioned with what he saw as the company's weak efforts to hire a more diverse work force. "At some point you have to ask yourself if you're doing more harm than good."

HASHTAG EXPLORER - WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW?

  • Martin Hawksey's Twitter TAGS.Data visualization VIDEO
  • https://mashe.hawksey.info/category/tagsexplorer/
  • CAPTURING TWEETS https://mashe.hawksey.info/2011/11/twitter-how-to-archive-event-hashtags-and-visualize-conversation/
    When I use this in my class, I have my students use links like this to reflect on their own activity, and how it changes over time, in the network. How do you find your link? When you visit the Conversation Explorer, it's a matter of appending the URL with &name=YOURTWITTERNAME so for me I first go to the Big HairBall of Tweets, add to the end of the URL &name=cogdog, sit back, and enjoy. Or analyze.
    READ if you have a Google accoun t, you can not only create a system to curate, archive tweets of interest (say all activity for a class or project marked by a hashtag), Twitter TAGs generates summaries of the information that can provide mote insight into activity:

Twitter says no to law enforcement protest policing tool
Media Sonar was used to track protestors by hashtag and keywords.
Remember, using Twitter's data feed for spying and surveillance is a violation of the service's developer agreement. With the list of keywords, the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union's evidence suggests that Media Sonar was selling itself as a way to monitor African Americans specifically. One column groups keywords together under a heading named "Mike Brown Related." Mike Brown was the unarmed black teenager shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. Further documents (PDF) show that the firm pitches itself as a way to "avoid the warrant process when identifying social media accounts for particular individuals."
What's more, the company apparently directed law enforcement officials to not mention the Media Sonar by name in court, instead using "proprietary search engine" or "internet tools" when pressed for information under oath. It's a far cry from issuing cyanide capsules to its customers, but still pretty telling of the company's intent to keep its secrets safe.
This isn't the first time Twitter has done this, and it likely won't be the last organization to mine social media data for policing. This fall, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter cut off access to tracking systems from Geofeedia. We've reached out to Twitter for more information and will update this post should it arrive.

Contact Support to get your Twitter Account Verifed.

How to Search for Just About Any Tweet on Twitter . Basic but useful if you're not acquainted with Twitter's advanced search.

The LA Times ran an excellent piece a few months ago about Friedhelm Hillebrand, the father of the modern text message . He dreamed up the 160 character limit while working at a typewriter in the mid-1980s, trying to see how long sentences needed to be to convey something. He found 160 characters was the magic number he kept arriving at. But the deciding committee for SMS still wasn't sure until they looked at postcards and found that most of those had messages of 150 characters or less.

Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 21, 2006 with $160M (launched publicly in July 2006), is a social networking and micro-blogging.

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乂⍲‿⍲乂 = HAPPY HAPPY

♫ ♩ ♬ Oh yea we danced till the sun came up!! ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯

It's often overlooked now, but the origin of Twitter's 140-character limit was so that tweets could fit into SMS messages (which have a 160 character limit — room is needed for usernames).

Twitter's SMS roots: Twitter shortcode 40404
SMS on any phone in the United States and you can get alerts from anyone on Twitter. This is true even if you don't have a Twitter account.
It's a number you can send an SMS to to post a tweet

HOW TO Fast Follow .
Anyone in the US can receive Tweets on their phone even if they haven't signed up for Twitter. This is a simple way for people to get information they care about in real-time. All you have to do is text “follow TWITTERNAME” to Twitter's shortcode, 40404, and you will start getting realtime updates.

For example, let's say you want to get Tweets from the Educational CyberPlayGround (@CyberPlayGround).
Just text 'follow CyberPlayGround' to 40404 if you reside in the US.

Obviously, Twitter believes people who do this will start to understand the power of the service and will then want to sign up. As such, they've created a simple way to do that too via SMS — simply reply to any tweet you get with “SIGNUP”. You can also easily turn the tweets off and on by simply sending “off” and “on” back to the 40404 number. This feature is currently only available in the U.S.

Twitter SMS commands

It's just as easy to set alerts from your phone. Send 'on [username]' or 'off [username]' to 40404 in the US. (Tip: Check our list of numbers for each country and add the Twitter number to your address book.) Tell Twitter to be quiet. Turn text messages on or off by sending 'on' or 'off' to Twitter. You can also go to our settings page if you want to turn off text message updates during a certain time period. Keep up with the latest Tweet. If you text 'Get [username]', that user's most recent Tweet will be sent to your phone, even if you don't follow them. There are a bunch of other fun commands you can use with Twitter on your phone. Follow @twittermobile to keep up with the latest mobile developments.

BE A TWEET DELETER

PROTECT YOURSELF Meet the tweet-deleters (whose Twitter history won't come back to haunt them). Tweets are passing things. Sloan wrote a script that automatically deletes his tweets after ten days, which he posted to Github for others to use. Prominent tweet-deleters include Matt Drudge, the political blogger, who currently has only one tweet viewable on his four-year-old account.
TweetDelete http://www.tweetdelete.net/
Tweet Deleter http://www.tweetdeleter.com/en
TwitWipe http://twitwipe.com/
that can automate the tweet-deleting process for those who don't feel like writing their own scripts.

FIND A JOB
Twitter feed includes job postings. "More effective than just looking for jobs on Twitter is building your base of expertise and your network," Grant told ABCNews.com. "Twitter is a good way to reach out to other professionals who are like-minded and who know people you would like to know. So if you can show that you know about your field or industry, then they are going to be interested in talking to you." "If you identified someone working at a company where you'd like to work, it's often easier to get in touch with that person very informally and casually through Twitter, versus finding that person's email address and sending them a long vague formal email," Klamm added. source

Tweetchat (http://tweetchat.com) will help a group start to organize chats on Twitter. It would allow people who only want to view the chat and not participate in it to see it without creating a Twitter account, preferably in real time or with minimal refreshing. So just the ability to search and view one hashtag easily.You only have to sign in if you want to participate. But if you only want to watch, you can simply search for the chat hashtag and then sit back and watch. It'll also update in real time so you won't have to refresh.

Warning Skank Botnets controlled by Twitter accounts
HowTo Protect Yourself from the Twitter Botnet Creator
Accounts issued tweets using base64 decoder containing a single line of text , pointed to links where infected computers could receive malware updates . Botnet uses Twitter as its command and control structure . Basically what it does is use the status messages to send out new links to contact, then these contain new commands or executables to download and run. It's an infostealer operation. The bots using the Twitter account connected using RSS feeds, a technique that allowed them to receive each tweet in real time without the need of an account.

50 million twitter accounts merely follow other users rather than posting their own messages. In fact, a whopping 73% of Twitter accounts have tweeted fewer than 10 times according to a new report from Barracuda Networks, a Web security company."

Search tip

Use near: immediately before a location (or a zip code) plus within: immediately before a distance measurement to find tweets sent within a certain distance of a location. Example: near:NYC within:15mi will find tweets sent within 15 miles of "NYC".

Search tip

Use near: immediately before a location (or a zip code) plus within: immediately before a distance measurement to find tweets sent within a certain distance of a location. Example: near:NYC within:15mi will find tweets sent within 15 miles of "NYC".

Search tip

Use near: immediately before a location (or a zip code) plus within: immediately before a distance measurement to find tweets sent within a certain distance of a location. Example: near:NYC within:15mi will find tweets sent within 15 miles of "NYC".

Search tip
Use near: immediately before a location (or a zip code) plus within: immediately before a distance measurement to find tweets sent within a certain distance of a location. Example: near:NYC within:15mi will find tweets sent within 15 miles of "NYC".

The Library of Congress Archives All Tweets announced it had signed an agreement with the microblogging service Twitter to archive all public tweets sent since the service began in 2006. I spoke with Martha Anderson, the director of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress. As of 2013 nothing is going to be done to makd this archive searchable because they don't have the technology to support the effort.

2013 Use All My tweets to view all your tweets on one page see cyberplayground

OR

You can download your Twitter archive , so you'll get all your Tweets (including Retweets) going back to the beginning using Twitter: Go to Settings and scroll down to the bottom to check for the option to request your Twitter archive. If you do see it, go ahead and click the button. You'll receive an email with instructions on how to access your archive when it's ready for you to download. Once you have your Twitter archive, you can view your Tweets by month, or search your archive to find Tweets with certain words, phrases, hashtags or @usernames. You can even engage with your old Tweets just as you would with current ones. Share your favorites using #TwitterArchive.

If you are a Twitter user and want to get your account verified, there is this User Verification form you can fill, but the chances that you will get a Verified Account badge are very low unless you are a famous personality or work at Twitter. To get your Twitter account Verified, just log in to your Twitter account, fill the Account Verification Request form and submit it. See what a verified account looks like


More Big Businesses Hire Professional Tweeters

[ ... Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor Co. and Coca-Cola Co., are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola's Atlanta-based director of social media.
"Having the world's most-recognized brand, we feel like there's an obligation or a responsibility when people are talking about us, we have a duty to respond," Brown says. Dantico, who is getting a doctorate in communications with an emphasis in building brand identity in online communities, says she has seen an uptick in sales when she's tweeted from events since joining the company in June. "I really believe in the power of conversation in social media," she says. "Some days we talk about the weather. Some days we talk about the 'Chicken Dance.' Some days we talk about recipes and parties and shipping Garretts to Cabo for a wedding." She mentions popcorn in her Tweets, and has helped customers secure tins for special events, but never implores followers to go out and buy some. Successful selling through social media is much more subtle. "Social media is all about being social," says Nora Ganim Barnes, a marketing professor and director for the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "It's not called selling media. The biggest mistake companies make is using social media to hawk products. It's a turnoff." Large Fortune 500 companies have been the slowest to adopt social media strategies, Ganim Barnes says. But not-for-profit organizations have been the fastest. ... ]

MORE BIG BUSINESS CORRUPTION

What tools identify lobbyists on twitter?

Undercover persuasion by tech industry lobbyists. persuasion by tech industry lobbyists 2010 Why pay for a golf trip, dinner or full-page ad when you can tweet for free?

The influence peddlers of K Street have discovered the power of social networking on such Web sites as Twitter and Facebook. Using their own names without mentioning that they work in public relations or as lobbyists, employees of companies with interests in Washington are chattering online to shape opinions in hard-to-detect ways.
Take PJ Rodriguez, whose Twitter profile says he's a pop culture maven and cable blogger. He tweets about "American Idol," Dora the Explorer and wonky tech policy issues, like broadband jurisdiction at the Federal Communications Commission.
"Former FCC Chairman Powell: cable has never been regulated in a Title II common carrier fashion," he wrote recently, one of several 140-characters-or-fewer missives he fires off daily on the site.
What's not as clear is that he is a public relations staffer being supported by such companies as Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable as the Web 2.0 point person for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, an industry trade group. Nowhere on his profile does he mention NCTA or provide a link to its site.
Tweets, blogs and comments on news sites can draw big audiences and popular support for a variety of causes, from tech policy to health care and energy regulation. But they provide a shade of gray in the lobbying world, where enormous influence is being exercised with few rules of engagement about spending and disclosure.
"It's a bit of a Wild West, because anyone can be anyone on the Web and it's harder to tell where the line between work and the person's non-work life is," said John Wonderlich, policy director at the Sunlight Foundation. "The whole enterprise of lobbying disclosure is hard to apply hard-and-fast standards to and hard to regulate. Add to that the way we interact socially through technology, which is changing the lines around our traditional roles."

What tools identify lobbyists on twitter? After all, lobbyists are required to register.But the the fact is-- we regulate and dictate disclosure around what lobbyists say to Congress, not what they say to the public.

Clay Johnson Sunlight Foundation wrote:
What's really needed is some kind of standardized way of exposing influence that's machine readable, and has a nice interface. Consultants, Bloggers, Members of the Media, etc-- could go in and optionally disclose who their clients were and who has been paying them. Then we could build interfaces on top of that and syndicate that information-- whether it be on TV or on the Web-- at least people would be able to start figuring out whether or not they were being induced into some kind of paid campaign. And the bloggers, twitterers, and whomever could choose to be kept honest, and those who didn't participate would be presumed to be dishonest.
example: Blue State Digital top tier online persuasion firms-- doesn't have any registered federal lobbyists. Yet they get paid to push messages by their clients.

WARNING TEACHERS AND DOCTORS ARE HELD TO HIGHER STANDARDS

PATIENT AND STUDENT PRIVACY SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE NOT PRIVATE.

2009 A new survey of medical-school deans finds that unprofessional conduct on blogs and social-networking sites is common among medical students. Although med students fully understand patient-confidentiality laws and are indoctrinated in the high ethical standards to which their white-coated profession is held, many of them still use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and other sites to depict and discuss lewd behavior and sexual misconduct, make discriminatory statements and discuss patient cases in violation of confidentiality laws, according to the survey, which was published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Of the 80 medical-school deans questioned, 60% reported incidents involving unprofessional postings and 13% admitted to incidents that violated patient privacy. Some offenses led to expulsion from school.
"I didn't expect to find so many incidents of unprofessional conduct," says Dr. Katherine Chretien, medicine-clerkship director at the Washington, D.C., Veterans Administration hospital and the lead author of the study. As a physician responsible for counseling medical students and residents, Chretien says she assumed that students were "educated about professional conduct online and used better judgment."
But medical students, it seems, are no different from the rest of us when it comes to posting drunken party pictures online or tweeting about their daily comings, goings and musings - however inappropriate they may be. Many students feel they are entitled to post what they wish on their personal profiles, maintaining that the information is in fact personal and not subject to the same policies and guidelines that govern their professional behavior on campus. Though medical students would agree that physicians - and other professionals, like teachers - should be held to a higher standard of integrity by society, the new study suggests that they're confused by how rules apply, especially in cyberspace, once the white coat comes off. "They view their Facebook pages as their Internet persona," says Dr. Neil Parker, senior associate dean for student affairs for graduate medical education at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. "They think it's something only for their friends, even though it's not private." [...]

Website Immunity Issue Inder 47 U.S.C. § 230
What happens when kids use Twitter, Facebook, Myspace are used to help a “flash mob” of teenage delinquents, allegedly incited by postings go to Macy's at 13th and Chestnut Streets, pelting cars with snowballs, and frightening and knocking down passers-by. The carnage resulted in 15 arrests for rioting and disorderly behavior, and one high school student was also charged with assault and battery. Philadelphia is planning to sue for failing to monitor the postings that, according to police, arranged for the mob to convene in the Gallery (the indoor shopping mall at 11th and Market Streets) for a fight. This raises the same website immunity issue under 47 U.S.C. § 230 in the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The CDA immunizes a provider of an “interactive computer service” from liability for most state and federal claims arising from objectionable content posted by third parties: “No provider … of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” See 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1)). Websites fall within the statutory definition of an “interactive computer service.” Social media provides networking tools and services to expand group communications, but like broadband and cell phone service, social media is morally neutral — it can be used for good (e.g., the Twitter Revolution in Iran) or ill (a mob of teenage thugs gathering at the Gallery for a fight).

Instantly online-17 golden rules for mobile social networks

Internet Safety, End Users, Identity & Trust, Awareness Raising, Risk Awareness, Case Studies

Instantly online-17 golden rules to combat online risks and for safer surfing mobile social networks The EU 'cyber security' Agency - ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency) today presents a new report on accessing social networks over mobile phones, 'Online as soon as it happens“. The report points out the risks and threats of mobile social networking services, e.g. identity theft, corporate data leakage and reputation risks of mobile social networks. The report also gives 17 'golden rules' on how to combat these threats.

Immunization Action Coalition 2010 Social Media Summit:
From the Desk of the Commissioner

Follow Topics

Talk about profession, hobbies, or events.
A Scheduled Gathering Of People on Twitter = How to Twitter Chat
A #hash tag is used to keep track of the discussion

Search Operators Find tweets

  • twitter search containing both "twitter" and "search". This is the default operator.
  • "happy hour" containing the exact phrase "happy hour".
  • love OR hate containing either "love" or "hate" (or both).
  • beer -root containing "beer" but not "root".
  • #cyberplayground containing the hashtag "cyberplayground".
  • from:cyberplayground sent from person "cyberplayground".
  • to:cyberplayground sent to person "cyberplayground".
  • @cyberplayground referencing person "cyberplayground".
  • "happy hour" near:"philadelphia" containing the exact phrase "happy hour" and sent near "philadelphia".
  • near:NYC within:15mi sent within 15 miles of "NYC".
  • cyberplaygorund since:2010-05-01 containing "cyberplayground" and sent since date "2010-05-01" (year-month-day).
  • ftw until:2010-05-01 containing "ftw" and sent up to date "2010-05-01".
  • movie -scary :) containing "movie", but not "scary", and with a positive attitude.
  • flight :( containing "flight" and with a negative attitude.
  • traffic ? containing "traffic" and asking a question.
  • hilarious filter:links containing "hilarious" and linking to URLs.
  • news source:twitterfeed containing "news" and entered via TwitterFeed

Environment:

  • National Park Service @NatlParkService
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention @CDCemergency
  • FEMA @femainfocus

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration uses Twitter for a number of applications, including educating students about oceans @oceanexplorer

Govtwit.com is a directory of government and related Twitter users.

  • United Nations Environmental Programme @UNEPandYou
  • World Health Organization, @whonews

Environmental nongovernmental organizations using Twitter

  • International Union for Conservation of Nature @IUCN
  • Earthwatch @tweettheheat
  • Greenpeace @greenpeaceusa
  • The Nature Conservancy @nature_org
  • World Resources Institute @worldresources
  • World Wildlife Fund @WWFUS
  • Protect Wildlife @wildlifeprotect

Twitter also provides a forum for practitioners in particular academic and policy fields and news organizations covering specialized topics.

In climate

  • Katharine Hayhoe @KatharineHayhoe
    an atmospheric scientist and lead author of the U.S. Global Change Research Program report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
  • Richard Klein @rjtkleina
    climate policy analyst for the Stockholm Environment Institute and a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  • Earth Negotiations Bulletin @enbclimate
    a news service on multilateral environmental negotiations
  • Terri Willard @taikod
    International Institute for Sustainable Development "Social Networking and Governance for Sustainable Development"


Environmental subject librarians

  • Anne Less @alessismore a librarian with the U.S. Green Building Council
  • Lenora A. Oftedahl @StreamNetLib a librarian with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
  • Anne Moser @WiscWaterLib is head librarian and head Tweeter at Wisconsin's Water Library

2013

Twitter Cheat Sheet , an infographic by Linchpin Infographic Design

e-discovery for defendants

e-discovery for defendants with respect to social media maintained by plaintiffs - a compilation of all the favorable opinions concerning the right of defendants to take the offensive on e-discovery in personal injury cases.

Torres v. Lexington Insurance Co., 237 F.R.D. 533 (D.P.R. Aug. 14, 2006). Plaintiff sanctioned for deleting several social media web pages with information contrary to her claims. Defendant independently discovered the information and notified plaintiff to preserve it. Two days later it was gone. All claims for mental anguish, to which this evidence was relevant, are dismissed.
Mackelprang v. Fidelity National Title Agency, Inc., 2007 WL 119149 (D. Nev. Jan. 9, 2007). Discovery of social media is allowable, to the extent relevant to the case, but discovery should come from the plaintiff, rather than directly from My Space.
Dexter v. Dexter, 2007 WL 1532084 (Ohio App. May 25, 2007). Not a discovery case, but frequently cited. Publicly available posts on MySpace were not entitled to any reasonable expectation of privacy.
Murphy v. Perger, 2007 CarswellOnt 9439 (Ont. Super. Oct. 3, 2007) (Canada). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account authorized. Social media to which many people have access has no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Beye v. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, 2007 WL 7393489 (D.N.J. Dec. 14, 2007). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook and MySpace accounts authorized. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in information shared with others.
Leduc v. Roman, 2009 CarswellOnt 843 (Ont. App. Feb. 20, 2009) (Canada). Refusal to allow discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account was an abuse of discretion. Social media are not privileged, even if restricted as “private.” A plaintiff must identify any relevant materials posted on Facebook, public or private.
Moreno v. Hanford Sentinel, Inc., 91 Cal. Rptr.3d 858 (Cal. App. April 2, 2009). Not a discovery case, but frequently cited. A plaintiff cannot bring an invasion of privacy action concerning republication of information that he voluntarily posted on MySpace. There can be no expectation of privacy in publicly posted information.
Bishop v. Minichiello, 2009 CarswellBC 871 (B.C. April 7, 2009) (Canada). Discovery of plaintiff's hard drive was proper to determine how much time plaintiff spent on Facebook.
Kent v. Laverdiere, 2009 CarswellOnt 1986 (Ont. Super. April 14, 2009) (Canada). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook and MySpace accounts was proper.
Ledbetter v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2009 WL 1067018 (D. Colo. April 21, 2009). Subpoenas directly to Facebook, My Space, Inc., and Meetup.com were proper discovery of plaintiff's accounts.
Bass v. Miss Porter's School, 2009 WL 3724968 (D. Conn. Oct. 27, 2009). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account was proper. Plaintiff's withholding of relevant information justified sanction of production of entire Facebook page.
Romano v. Steelcase Inc., 907 N.Y.S.2d 650 (N.Y. Sup. Sept. 21, 2010). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook and MySpace accounts authorized. Social media are not privileged, even if restricted as “private.” Social media are discoverable, and have no reasonable expectation of privacy.
McCann v. Harleysville Insurance Co., 910 N.Y.S.2d 614 (N.Y.A.D. Nov. 12, 2010). While the defendant had yet to establish entitlement to discovery of any particular item, prospective refusal to allow any discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account was an abuse of discretion.
EEOC v. Simply Storage Management, LLC, 270 F.R.D. 430 (S.D. Ind. May 11, 2010). Discovery of plaintiffs' Facebook and MySpace accounts authorized. Social media have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Targeted social media discovery is not burdensome or oppressive.
Barnes v. CUS Nashville, LLC, 2010 WL 2265668 (M.D. Tenn. June 3, 2010). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account authorized. Due to plaintiff's intransigence, the magistrate will “friend” plaintiff and review the account for discoverable information.
McMillen v. Hummingbird Speedway, Inc., 2010 WL 4403285 (Pa. C.P. Jefferson Co. Sept. 9, 2010). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account authorized. There is no “social network privilege.” Social media are discoverable, and access “should be freely granted.”
Sparks v. Dubé, 2011 CarswellNB 80 ¶¶52-58 (N.B.Q.B. Feb. 4, 2011) (Canada). Imposing litigation hold on plaintiff to prevent deletion of Facebook information.
Zimmerman v. Weis Markets, Inc., 2011 WL 2065410 (Pa. C.P. Northumberland Co. May 19, 2011). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook and MySpace accounts authorized. No privilege exists for information posted in the non-public sections of social websites. Social media have no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Offenback v. LM Bowman, Inc., 2011 WL 2491371 (M.D. Pa. June 22, 2011). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account authorized. Social media are discoverable. There is no need for judicial in camera review of social media before it is produced.
Katiroll Co. v. Kati Roll and Platters, Inc., 2011 WL 3583408 (D.N.J. Aug. 3, 2011). A party's intentional destruction of Facebook evidence could constitute spoliation, but unintentional alterations do not. Parties “control” their Facebook pages for purposes of discovery.
Held v. Ferrellgas, Inc., 2011 WL 3896513 (D. Kan. Aug. 31, 2011). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook and job search accounts authorized. Targeted social media discovery is not burdensome or oppressive.
Patterson v. Turner Construction Co., 931 N.Y.S.2d 311, 312 (N.Y. App. Div. 2011). Affirming grant of Facebook discovery. Social media are not privileged, even if restricted as “private.”
Sourdiff v. Texas Roadhouse Holdings, LLC, 2011 WL 7560647 (Mag. N.D.N.Y. Oct. 24, 2011). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook and MySpace accounts authorized. Plaintiff's counsel must review the sites' content, including any deleted items, and turn over to the defendant all information related in any way to the plaintiff's physical or emotional condition, injuries, damages, activity level, employment, or concerning this lawsuit.
Largent v. Reed, 2011 WL 5632688, slip op. (Pa. C.P. Franklin Co. Nov. 8, 2011). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook account authorized. Social media are discoverable, and have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Social media are not privileged, even if access is restricted. The Stored Communications Act does not apply to discovery from plaintiffs. Targeted social media discovery is not burdensome or oppressive.
In re Air Crash Near Clarence Center, New York, on February 12, 2009, 2011 WL 6370189 (W.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2011). Where plaintiff's domicile is an important contested issue, discovery will be allowed into all of plaintiff's electronic communications for a five-year period prior to the accident, including social media, text messages, emails, and instant messages, relevant to the plaintiff's domiciliary intentions.
Davenport v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 2012 WL 555759 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2012). Discovery of plaintiff's social media sites allowed. Plaintiff must produce every photograph of the her that is posted on any social media site, whether or not she posted them (that is, including “tags”). As a practical matter, the scope of production will be limited by the "custody and control" limits on discovery.
Glazer v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., 2012 WL 1197167 (S.D.N.Y. April 5, 2012). Plaintiff must produce all her LivePerson social media accounts. Pursuant to the Stored Communication Act the court may direct plaintiff to consent to disclosure if she wants to maintain this suit. It makes more sense to require the plaintiff, rather than the online provider, make the production. Since plaintiff has deleted relevant information that can be restored if she opens a new account, plaintiff is directed to open a new account. Given the relevance of the excerpts provided to the court, all chats must be produced regardless of subject matter. All chats during the plaintiff's employment by the defendant must be produced. If plaintiff claims any privilege, she must submit a privilege log.
Loporcaro v. City of New York, 35 Misc.3d 1209(A), 950 N.Y.S.2d 723 (table), 2012 WL 1231021 (N.Y. Sup. April 9, 2012). Plaintiff posted information on Facebook contradicting his claims, entitling defendants to full discovery. A person creating a Facebook account may be found to have consented to the possibility that personal information might be shared with others, notwithstanding the privacy settings, as there is no guarantee that the pictures and information posted thereon, whether personal or not, will not be further broadcast and made available to other members of the public.
Thompson v. Autoliv ASP, Inc., 2012 WL 2342928 (D. Nev. June 20, 2012). Discovery of plaintiff's Facebook and other social networking sites allowed. Redaction was inappropriate. Relevance was established by public information obtained prior to formal discovery. Plaintiff did not claim privilege so not entitled to in camera review. All material after date of accident was potentially relevant to the injury/emotional disstress claims and must be produced.
Walter v. Walch, 2012 WL 6864400 (N.Y. Sup. July 2, 2012). Defendants made a sufficient showing of particularity to be entitled to discovery from plaintiffs' private Facebook pages. Plaintiffs who place their physical and mental condition in controversy may not shield themselves from disclosure material which is necessary to the defense of the action. Plaintiffs must provide authorizations.
Trail v. Lesko, 2012 WL 2864004, slip op. (Pa. C.P. Allegheny Co. July 3, 2012). I don't usually put denials on cheat sheets, but this is Judge Wettick, and this decision is likely to become the standard in Pennsylvania. Discovery of social media sites (plaintiff or defendant) is allowed unless "unreasonably intrusive." In order to be entitled to discovery, the moving party must show a reasonable likelihood of the site containing relevant evidence, not available elsewhere, that will have an impact on the outcome of the case.
Robinson v. Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc., 2012 WL 3763545 (D. Or. Aug. 29, 2012). Where plaintiff has alleged severe emotional distress, defendant is entitled, for the relevant period, to social media discovery of any direct or indirect communications with current and former employee of defendant; plaintiff's social media communications that reveal, refer, or relate to any significant emotions or emotion-stirring events allegedly caused by defendant's conduct. Defendant may challenge the production if it believes the production fails short.
Cajamarca v. Regal Entertainment Group, 2012 WL 3782437 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 31, 2012). Monetary sanctions are appropriate against plaintiff's counsel for failing to advise plaintiff not to delete relevant information from her computers. The relevance of the deleted information, which was of a sexual nature, was patently clear.
Mailhoit v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 285 F.R.D. 566 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2012). Social media is discoverable and not privileged, but must be particularized. A particularized request for communications with specified employees of the defendant will be granted. Vague requests will be denied.
Howell v. Buckeye Ranch, Inc., 2012 WL 5265170 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 1, 2012). Social media information is discoverable to the same extent as traditional material. Defendants must make a particularized showing. Plaintiff is on notice that defendants are seeking social media information and may not delete it. Any deletions must be reported to the defendant, and plaintiff must endeavor to recover them.
Simms v. Lewis, 2012 WL 6755098, slip op. (Pa. C.P. Oct. 10, 2012), pursuant to, 2012 WL 6888199 (Pa. C.P. July 3, 2012). Discovery of plaintiff's myYearbook account authorized. Plaintiff's the public posts indicated that the private pages are likely to contain relevant information. No expectation of privacy exists. Defendant will be granted discovery of plaintiff's other social networking sites upon a similar preliminary showing.
Bianco v. North Fork Bancorporation, Inc., 2012 WL 5199007 (N.Y. Sup. Oct. 10, 2012). Given the plaintiff's broad claims about alleged adverse impact on his life style and loss of enjoyment of life, defendant is entitled to Facebook discovery from plaintiff through the intermediary of a special master to whom the contents of plaintiff's account will be produced. The special master shall limit discovery to information that is calculated to lead to admissible evidence.
In re White Tail Oilfield Services, L.L.C., 2012 WL 4857777 (E.D. La. Oct. 11, 2012). Given claimant's affidavit that he did not know how to download his own Facebook information, defendant will be given plaintiff's download information, defendant will execute the download, and plaintiff must forward all downloaded information to defendant.
EEOC v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co., 2012 WL 5430974 (D. Colo. Nov. 7, 2012). Defendant in administrative class action is entitled to discovery from the plaintiff's social media accounts. The fact that information resides in cyberspace does not change its discoverability. The claimants created these communications voluntarily. Because a review of one claimant's social media reveals much relevant information, there is valid reason to order discovery as to the other claimants in the class, particularly since other claimants posted to that claimant's account. All discovery will go through a special master to ensure that only discoverable information is ultimately produced to the other side. Plaintiffs must produce all cell phones capable of text messaging and all social media access information to the special master for the time period at issue. The cost of forensic evaluation of this electronic information will be shared jointly by defendant and plaintiffs.
Mazzarella v. Mount Airy #1 LLC, 2012 WL 6000678, slip op. (Pa. C.P. Monroe Co. Nov. 7, 2012). Discovery of unspecified social media is permitted. No expectation of privacy exists.
Reid v. Ingerman Smith LLP, 2012 WL 6720752 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 27, 2012). Social media is a source for relevant and discoverable information. There is no justifiable expectation of privacy in social media, even if limited to “friends.” Plaintiff can have no expectation that “friends” will keep her post private. Defendants have made a sufficient showing from plaintiff's publicly available Facebook pages that private pages are likely to contain evidence relevant to her emotional distress claims. Posts about plaintiff's social activities may be relevant to emotional distress allegations and also identify potential witnesses. Completely irrelevant posts need not be produced.
Keller v. National Farmers Union Property & Casualty Co., 2013 WL 27731 (D. Mont. Jan. 2, 2013). Social media is not protected from discovery simply because it is marked “private.” It is both discoverable and potentially admissible. The requesting party must make some threshold showing of likely admissibility. A non-specific request for a fishing expedition into a plaintiff's social media will not be allowed. Plaintiffs must list all social media to which they belong. Defendant can renew with a showing of likely relevance.
Allied Concrete Co. v. Lester, 736 S.E.2d 699 (Va. Jan. 10, 2013). Plaintiff and his counsel was adequately sanctioned with costs, attorney fees, and an adverse inference instruction for intentionally spoliating the contents of his Facebook page while discovery was pending. While the conduct was dishonest and unethical, there was ultimately no substantial prejudice as the information was recovered. No new trial is required.
German v. Micro Electronics, Inc., 2013 WL 143377 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 11, 2013). Plaintiff engaged in significant social media use regarding her physical condition. Plaintiff violated Rule 34 by failing to specify a production format for her social media production. Cutting and pasting is not a form in which the information was ordinarily maintained. The burden and expense to plaintiff does not outweigh production of the electronic information. Plaintiff is not entitled to cost shifting. Plaintiff is obligated by Rule 34 to undertake a review of her own online activity. An offer to allow supply log-in credentials and passwords is not a valid alternative to production. That proposal is rejected because it seeks to shift to the defendant the burden of sifting through plaintiff's prolific on-line activities. In light of plaintiff's deceptive representations about discovery, defendant is entitled to an award of fees and costs.
Scipione v. Advance Stores Co., 2013 WL 646405 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2013). In slip and fall case, plaintiff is to produce all Facebook content since the accident that refers to the injury as well as recent Facebook photographs.
Gatto v. United Air Lines, Inc., 2013 WL 1285285, slip op. (D.N.J. March 25, 2013). After being ordered to authorize the defendant to access his Facebook account, plaintiff deactivated his account causing its contents to be lost. By intentionally deactivating the account, plaintiff is guilty of spoliation. Defendant is entitled to an adverse inference instruction to the jury regarding the destroyed electronic evidence. Because plaintiff had a non-fraudulent excuse for his actions, monetary sanctions are denied.
In re Christus Health Southeast Texas, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2013 WL 1247680 (Tex. App. March 28, 2013). Mandamus demanding discovery of social media in personal injury suit denied. While the material was relevant and there is no expectation of privacy in social media, the request was unlimited in time and thus overbroad.