Recent research indicates that roughly half of Earth’s population can be accurately classified as daily users of social media platforms. Social media influences the ways in which families and friends stay connected, employers seek out applicants (and vice versa), entertainment is shared, and political and social discussions are engaged. For these reasons and many more, chances are good that you are a regular social media user. Although it can be tough, you may want to think about hitting “pause” on your social media accounts until your personal injury case is resolved. If you choose to continue using social media during this time, you’ll need to be very, very careful about what you say and/or do on any given platform. Engaging with social media without first thinking through your approach could significantly impact the ultimate outcome of your case.
Increasingly, attorneys and insurance companies are using social media to determine whether claims that have been filed are legitimate or not. They evaluate an injury victim’s social media activity in an attempt to discern whether the victim in question is being truthful about the extent of their injuries. Even if you adjust your privacy settings to strictly limit who can view your activity (and you should do this for the life of your case), these interested parties may be able to see some or all of what you do on these platforms. The primary problem with this approach is that social media activity is subject to interpretation. If you have suffered a severe back injury and post a picture of yourself holding your new baby nephew up, others may interpret your activity as evidence that you aren’t really as hurt as you are – they have no way of knowing that you took this picture after a massage and taking pain killers. Don’t give anyone interested in the outcome of your case an excuse to devalue or dismiss it as a result of your social media activity.