How Someone Might Use Social Media and Social Media Background Screening? And Why You Might Need One?

There are at least 4.6 billion people in the world who have a social media presence. There are currently has 353 million monthly active users on Twitter. These Twitter users spend an average of 158.2 minutes on the platform each month. Today, our social media presence defines who we are, how we think, who our friends are, and what we like and dislike. So it makes complete sense that to know someone’s past or background, their social media presence should be your number one go-to. However, doing a Social Media Background Screening is not as simple and easy as it appears on NCIS: Los Angeles!

What Is Social Media Background Screening?

To put it in plain words, it is the practice of learning about someone by looking at their social media accounts. It is basically a background check conducted by a private investigator using accessible public records obtained via various algorithms used to accessed social media channels. A Social Media Background Screening will uncover details that would be difficult to discover using conventional screening methods.

We go beyond just social media. We do vast expanse into public records. We call it social media but it is a complete OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENS SCREENING.

On the other hand, these background screenings may be unethical if conducted without respect for the legal requirements. Thence, it is essential and crucial to hire professionals to run your desired Social Media Background Screening. We will talk more about that later on.

When, Where, & Who Needs Social Media background screening?

Social Media background screening can be used in more ways than you think.

It is almost a daily request for some people and less often for others. I am pretty sure you will end up considering conducting one after you finish reading this blog post.

Some of the main areas where Social Media Background Screening can be helpful are:

The Employment Market:

Imagine that one of your employees is off work due to a medical condition; both his back and neck are injured and hurt. Now continue thinking about it and your reaction when you find a picture of him on Facebook enjoying his vacation and carrying all of his 3 children in his arms. That’s a true story. Unfortunately, without a Private Investigator in LA, you will never find out what your employee is up to during his “medical leave”.

Conducting a social media background screening can be really useful in the job market.

You can find out if the candidate will fit your company’s culture, if he/she is disrespectful to groups or minorities, if he/she has the passions and skills mentioned in his resume. You will also find out if he/she is potentially violent or a threat to your company’s workspace. 

One time, for one of our clients, a guy posted pictures of him on Instagram shooting rifles at a shooting range. Not just rifles, but automatic rifles.  For the company, it was a new suspicious behavior from this 10+ year’s employee. They did a background on him before hiring him, but his personality and other traits did change over the years.  And their concerns were right. After we found out about some statements and restraining orders on his ex-girlfriend and ex-neighbor, he was immediately dismissed from work as that was one of the things he signed…they need to inform this particular employer of any such complaints.

Even if you are a candidate yourself, you may want to run one on yourself to see what is out there about you. (We do this quite often for individuals). You may want to run a Social Media Background Screening about your employer. Especially when you’re nearing the close of the hiring process, it would be helpful to do your own due diligence to be confident and sure of your employer’s “promises”. We find unexpected items such as Confidential and Financial Information. Maybe they do not even have the financial resources to pay the agreed salary. Perhaps they are a part of a bigger group known for fraud and other corrupted actions in the business world.

Your time and energy are the two most valuable and limited resources in your life, so do not waste them in the wrong place.

The Business Field:

Every single day, thousands of investors look for the right stock, startup, or company to invest in. Of course, they will check a couple of factors, including their growth, the product or service itself, and the market. But most importantly, it’s the team and the founders that matter the most.

In this case, most investors would hire a private investigator in Los Angeles to conduct a Social Media Background Screening. It can be to check if the founders are in the right environment or community since that will directly influence their decisions, check if the founders have a history of fraud in the past, and discover hidden secrets about past projects they have worked on. Or just to get to know a little bit more about their personal lives to conclude if they are stable or not.

Investors put a lot of money into the ideas and visions of the founders. It is advisable, even necessary, to carry out a Social Media Background Screening for the people they’re investing in.

The Marriage & Dating World:

It is easy and common to meet your other half on the internet in today’s digital era. You may spend weeks, even months, texting and calling with a lot of “I can’t wait to see you” comments. As perfect and ideal as the digital conversations seem, as little you really know about the person on the other side of the screen.

Are they who they say they are? DO THEY REALLY EXIST?!

All that passion on social media platforms can eventually end up in another “Catfish” story. The person you were texting all this time and started to admire his morning pictures from the gym was just actually your 70 years old creepy neighbor. This is just a simple catfish story compared to other ones that consist of sending money, gifts, and even personal information to fake profiles.

Reported financial losses due to catfishing in 2018 exceeded $362 million, according to the FBI. Whenever you feel suspicious about someone you met online and you’re interested in, the right choice would be to hire one of the many Private Investigators in Los Angeles, so he or she conducts a Social Media Background Screening about that person. At Kinsey Investigations, we do this all the time for our clients, and we’re obviously very good at it. Don’t take our word for it; check out our testimonials here.

You can also use the help of a background check when you’re thinking seriously about someone you are dating, whether you are worried about your partner’s intention regarding your wealth or suspicious about a mysterious past and secrets. Marriage is not a game, especially for serious people who do not have any time or energy to waste.

We do these types of screenings for fiancés on each side of the aisle. We have done them on women, on men—sometimes before they are thinking of asking someone to marry them. We have done them for parents! They want a deep dive into who their son or daughter is marrying as well.

Which Red Flags Do We Look For?

There are a few “red flags” we look for in every social media profile we examine during our background checks. They can be images, videos, groups they are a part of, text from their posts, comments, or captions, and the posts they liked or shared. Of course, these red flags differ from a client to another depending on their needs and demands. The main red flags are:

1. Professional Improper Conduct: There are some instances in which an individual acts in a way that would be deemed inappropriate in a professional environment. These instances include violent criticism of a boss, bullying, or slandering and embarrassing coworkers are all valid examples.
2. Discriminatory Conduct: There are other instances in which the individual discriminates against people of a particular ethnicity, gender, religious belief, or any other group. This involves making homophobic, racist, or xenophobic remarks online and joining social media groups with blatantly racist agendas.
3. Illegal Conduct: This one is simple and straightforward. It is considered an obvious red flag when the individual participates in conduct that would be deemed unlawful. Consuming prohibited drugs (such as Stimulants, Diuretics, or Narcotics) or sharing pornography are examples of this.
4. Violent Conduct: This is when we find any evidence of engagement of the individual in violent acts. This can be found in sharing violent content to praise or encourage brutal and aggressive behavior.
   For example, we found photos of someone who worked with elderly people participating in brutal dog fights!
5. Sexual Conduct: This is obvious when we find any evidence of engagement of the individual in sexual acts. This can be found in sharing their nude, semi-nude, or pornographic pictures and videos, whether the content is their own or belongs to other individuals. We’ve even seen inappropriate comments about someone who might be underage in sexual statements.
6. Inappropriate Conduct: When we find out that the individual is acting wrongful or improperly intentionally or unintentionally; this is referred to as improper conduct. Heavy drinking, drug use, and singing inappropriate songs are only a few examples.

Why do our Private Investigators perform Social Media Background Checks?

To make sure that all our social media background screenings are actionable, comprehensive, and precise, we follow a couple of elements in every background check we conduct:

• Multi-Platform Coverage: All the social media platforms you can think of are a part of our Social Media Background Screening. From the big names like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to the lesser-known platforms. It all depends on what we might see in the person’s interests.
• Exhaustive Investigations: Not everyone will expose every second of their daily life on their social media profiles. Some individuals are better than others at hiding their digital tracks and history. But they might buy that burner phone and use it for a verification code for Gmail (gotcha!).
  Our private investigators in LA not only provide you with an accurate exhaustive easy-to-understand report, but we also have the right and legal tools to conduct these investigations and deliver the optimal results to you.
• Customized For You: Every client has specific needs, worries, and plans regarding their Social Media Background Screening. So we provide our clients with customized and carefully made checks to meet their particular demands and requirements.
• Actionable Reports: The data generated from the social media platforms is far from being your standard basic data. As a result, transforming that data into a piece of actionable information is no easy task.Multi-Platform Coverage: All the social media platforms you can think of are a part of our Social Media Background Screening. From the big names like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to the lesser-known platforms. It all depends on what we might see in the person’s interests.
• Exhaustive Investigations: Not everyone will expose every second of their daily life on their social media profiles. Some individuals are better than others at hiding their digital tracks and history. But they might buy that burner phone and use it for a verification code for Gmail (gotcha!).
  Our private investigators in LA not only provide you with an accurate exhaustive easy-to-understand report, but we also have the right and legal tools to conduct these investigations and deliver the optimal results to you.
• Customized For You: Every client has specific needs, worries, and plans regarding their Social Media Background Screening. So we provide our clients with customized and carefully made checks to meet their particular demands and requirements.
• Actionable Reports: The data generated from the social media platforms is far from being your standard basic data. As a result, transforming that data into a piece of actionable information is no easy task.
  Thanks to our developed system, our team of experts will provide you with these reports that include valuable and insightful information which will help you make the right decisions about your suspects.

Hire a Professional, or Do It Yourself?

The right question to ask here is, “Can you do it better than a professional?” and both of us know the answer to that.

However, if you have some financial restrictions, make you take the low-budget route, then go for it. But you should not have high expectations for the outcome. Try talking to one of our PIs in Los Angeles, and you might be surprised to see how affordable our services can be.

That is why hiring professional investigation agencies would be the obvious right choice. Not only will they be well-versed in legal requirements, which will result in fewer chances of lawsuits, but they will also satisfy your curiosity and all of your doubts and questions about the whole procedure of Social Media Background Screening.

Working with a specialized investigation agency like Kinsey Investigations will make you feel more secure and comfortable. The last thing you need is more worries.

No one should be hiding their digital past and background from you or to influence you. Next time you have some doubts, please reach out to Kinsey Investigations at (310) 613 3755. We are helping people like you every single day!