During
investigations, it is pertinent that we work smarter, not harder. One of the
tricks we have learned is to find sources which aggregate social media profile
and website information. It decreases the time spent identifying individual
accounts and allows us to devote more time to data analysis. There are four
major sources we use: websites & blogs, social media profiles, social
influence sites, and checkusernames.com. To
illustrate how it works, we chose to research Britney Spears.
Websites & Blogs
Many
individuals and organizations now maintain their own website and/or blog, even if it is something as simple as an about.me page. On these sites, individuals tend to identify social
media profiles and other additional sources of information. In the case of
Britney Spears, the header of her website links to her
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr, and iTunes profiles, and slightly
down the page is a link to her Instagram profile. The front page of the website
clearly identifies seven additional data sources.
Social Media Profiles
Today, most Americans maintain at least one social media account.
However, many people maintain more than one account. With the advent of apps, there
is a wealth of data from linked accounts and cross-posted application data. In
the case of Britney’s Tumblr, six data
sources were clearly labeled: her website, YouTube, Twitter, SoundCloud,
Google+, and Facebook profiles.
If none of
these accounts are clearly labeled, you also can identify profiles in two easy
ways. First, you can look at the listed connected accounts on the profile, such
as a Google+ profile listed on a YouTube channel. Second, you can identify profiles
from posts pushed from another data source, such as an Instagram photo pushed
to a Facebook feed.
Social Influence Sites
An often-overlooked
source of information is social influence sites, such as Klout and PeerIndex. These sites allow users to measure their influence by
connecting social media profiles to their account and gain perks for topic and
network influence. As researchers, social influence sites allow us to quickly
harvest links, establish connections between users, and identify topics of
interest.
On Britney’s Klout page, there are six linked social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr.
Checkusernames.com
Once you have
identified usernames for an individual, a quick and simple way to see if it is used
on another network is to run it through checkusernames.com. If the site
identifies the username as registered, it is possible the same user has a
profile on an additional site. However, as some usernames are popular, it is
important to thoroughly vet the profiles to ensure the same user maintains the
accounts.
Conclusion
While Britney
Spears is more plugged in than the average individual, the methodology still
remains true. Capturing connections between data sources fundamentally
expedites the identification process. Because there is no master tool which
identifies profiles and websites, using disparate data sources to capture this
information is the key to building and analyzing an individual’s complete
digital footprint.
