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Social Media can Turn Anti-Social Quickly
Author: | Wednesday August 25, 2010
Eric Barnum advises that you separate your personal and professional connections when accepting "friends" to your social media site.
“Social” Media Now
Going Professional
By Ray Brasted
Everybody is doing it. The term "social media" isn't just about teenagers communicating constantly with their 250 close, personal friends. From the board room to the boiler room humans are sharing personal information with anyone who has a phone or computer.
Facebook started as a Harvard University networking sight and within a few years it was opened to everyone. In just four years it has grown to include over 400 million active users. You can keep up with the daily activities of anyone who wishes to share them with you, and that has given a new tool for investigations conducted in workers' compensation cases.
Attorney Eric Barnum of Atlanta has been studying the impact of social media on workers' compensation and how it has helped claims investigators find posts on social media sites that incriminate those who might be scheming against the system.
Speaking to workers' compensation regulators at the annual conference of the Southern Association of Workers' Compensation Administrators, Barnum cited the case of an injured worker who, despite the fact that he said he could not work, posted news about an upcoming bowling tournament in which he was competing.
Investigators showed up at the tournament and, sure enough, the "injured worker" was throwing strikes for his team. "Claims investigators are going to Facebook and finding personal, self incriminating posts," Barnum told the audience.
It is helping to providing more efficient and irrefutable evidence, but he cautioned that there are also pitfalls because of the right of privacy. Violate those rights and you can lose your case, he warned.
He raised the points about gaining access to social media sites through misleading, or false identity. Entrapment can backfire on those seeking to investigate claims using social media.
Barnum also pointed out that people are getting "out in front" of the issue, anticipating that their personal sites might be used against them. In these situations, the individual can post information that might not be accurate in order to misdirect investigators. "People are getting smarter," he noted.
There was another concern that Barnum expressed concerning the use of social media by professionals. Do you really want that old college photo of yourself dancing on tables to be tagged by an old buddy who posts it on his site?
In an age where the term "going viral" doesn't always refer to the flu, professional awareness would be prudent when it comes to welcoming just anyone to your social media site.
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