Who doesn’t use social media? From young to old, from tech-savvy to newbies, it seems everyone has a social media account. It’s a great way to connect to family and friends when you can’t see them often.

But if you’re involved in a personal injury case, social media may do more harm than good. Defendants in personal injury lawsuits scour social media looking for items that could work in their favor, and against you.

Following are some of the top things to keep in mind to help you avoid the potentially damaging effects of social media.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS AN OPEN BOOK

What you post online is available to everyone. You may have set all your social media accounts at the highest possible privacy levels, but even so, you can’t control of who views your stuff. The things you post to your private Instagram account aren’t completely private – people who don’t follow you might see your posts as well.

Remember that friends, family and even neighbors post to social media, too, and if they share one of your posts – or post a picture of you on their account – they’ll be exposing you to the dangers of social media. One thing you must recognize is defendants in a personal injury case will always be looking for ways to use social media posts against you, even if they take the content out of context. So that smiling photo of you at a birthday party might be used as a way to “prove” that you are OK, even if you were forced to sit all day and experienced pain the entire time.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS DON’T GO AWAY

You may have deleted a social media post, but don’t think that someone else won’t be able to find it. Someone who’s good at scouring the internet might uncover it. So, remember, once you click upload, it’s too late. Also, removing posts or social media accounts could be viewed as tampering with evidence if you have a personal injury case, even if you weren’t doing so maliciously.

AVOID SOCIAL MEDIA ALTOGETHER

It’s best to avoid social media altogether if you can while you’re going through a personal injury lawsuit because it can do more harm to your case than good to the rest of your life. If you have accounts already, do not delete them, but just don’t be active on them.

For the social media accounts that you do have, ensure privacy levels are as high as they can be, and do not accept any follower or friend requests from anyone you don’t know. That’s a typical way a defendant will try to see your posts.

YOU NEED AN EXPERIENCED ATTORNEY TO HELP YOU

A reputable, experienced attorney will guide you through what not to do with social media during your personal injury lawsuit. Contact the lawyers at Miller Kory Rowe LLP today by calling (602) 648-4045.