B&L Associates

Study shows Facebook is most popular social media in eDiscovery

June 27, 2011

Earlier this year, it was revealed that it would just be a matter of time before social media data was requested more often in eDiscovery litigation. A new report has revealed what path such requests generally take.

According to the report from Enterprise Strategy Group, Facebook is the most common social media channel involved in eDiscovery litigation. Seventy-nine percent of respondents acknowledged that information from the social networking site would show up most often.

Microblogging site Twitter was second on the list, highlighted by 85 percent of respondents. Fifty-five percent cited the business-oriented LinkedIn.

Last year, however, just 26 percent of respondents said social media factored into their plans for eDiscovery. That number is expected to climb closer to 58 percent this year, as the data is requested more often and companies recognize the need for being prepared.

The Economist Intelligence Unit recently conducted similar research that revealed the difficulties posed by social media. A quarter of 337 eDiscovery professionals said their company is not prepared to produce social media data, while just 36 percent said they were only somewhat prepared.