{"id":3898,"date":"2013-11-05T14:15:35","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T04:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/2021\/09\/11\/use-of-social-media-records-as-evidence-of-misconduct\/"},"modified":"2021-09-27T18:04:20","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T08:04:20","slug":"use-of-social-media-records-as-evidence-of-misconduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplace.com.au\/2013\/11\/use-of-social-media-records-as-evidence-of-misconduct\/","title":{"rendered":"Use of social media records as evidence of misconduct"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

There is no doubt that social media is playing an increasing role in our lives. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever been handed a folder of print outs from Facebook and told; \u201cHere you go, I want this person out<\/em>!\u201d?<\/p>\n

An increasing number of organisations are developing social media policies as a starting point to control inappropriate staff interaction online, but the question still arises: \u2018how do you prove that someone has breached the policy<\/em>?\u2019<\/p>\n

Where do you start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Initial questions that need to be asked include;\u00a0 What was said?\u00a0 Is it work-related?\u00a0 Who wrote it? At first glance, the latter question may seem obvious, but in more than one case, someone impersonating someone else has posted comments. To take effective administrative action, you must \u201cprove\u201d who made these comments. This is known as \u201cattribution<\/strong> of the records<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a recent case conducted by Access Forensics, alternate records from the social media site identified the true author of the comments and a just outcome was achieved.<\/p>\n

In another case, a client became concerned with internet records which appeared to suggest excessive use of the company\u2019s IT system to visit social media sites.\u00a0 However, closer inspection confirmed that most records were generated as a result of automatic processes not initiated by the user, nor as a result of visiting the social media site.<\/p>\n

To effectively attribute a digital record to a particular author, it\u2019s imperative that the investigator uses good, old fashioned interviewing skills, to question the alleged author about the creation of the social media post. They should also collect other sources of evidence and circumstances surrounding the case, to avoid attributing the post to the wrong person.<\/p>\n

So what do you need from your Facebook printouts?<\/strong><\/p>\n