Case Study – Social Media Monitoring for Trial Preparation
A law firm was preparing for an upcoming trial that involved a well known case in a small to mid-size town. They were seeking information on two levels: first, they wanted to know if the plaintiff was online in any personal capacity discussing the trial; secondly, they were interested in information on jurors before the voir dire process.
They secured the services of Ann Michaels & Associates to conduct social media monitoring research to uncover details needed to prepare for the trial. Using a software platform that can collect and aggregate data from all social media venues, including archived information back to 2007, several key pieces of information were secured and provided to the client, including:
- A potential juror’s preconceived notions of the defendant’s product, which was a key component of the trial
- An archived Twitter account owned by the plaintiff in which details of the case were discussed at length; this account had been deleted in 2009, but the archived records were able to be uncovered
- General perception of the upcoming case from the general population in the area surrounding the case, which allowed lawyers insight into jury selection and trial details
The information gleaned from Ann Michaels’ social media research proved invaluable to the law firm, and was less expensive and time consuming than had they conducted this research on their own.