As Dorothy aptly noted in The Wizard of Oz, "Thisdoesn't look like Kansas anymore, Toto."  Twenty-fourhours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Each week,there are one billion tweets on Twitter. Social media has exploded in the last few years, and so toohave the social networking tools for adjusters handling subrogation evaluations. 

Before the Tornado
Once upon a time, not too long ago, subrogation involved apost-fire inspection by an insurance claims adjuster or a privatefire investigator. In the 1990s, they photographed the loss siteand obtained available fire department materials. The private fireinvestigator analyzed burn patterns and interviewed known witnessesat the scene. Many times these inspections and interviews tookplace significantly after a loss event due to a delay in reporting.During the following decade (2000), basic Internet searches wereadded about potential defendants and witness, as well as productsthat may have been involved in the fire. 

The Twister Hits
Meanwhile, a foreboding change was occurring in Kansas when socialmedia exploded online. Social media is defined as interactivemobile and Web-based communication technology. Kaplan, AndreasM.; Michael Haenlein (2010) "Users of the World Unite. TheChallenges and Opportunities of Social Media." Business Horizons(2009). It is consumer-generated media that blends a variety ofsocial input with technology and usually involves little-to-nocost, significantly less training, and often leads to instantaneouscoverage from individuals present at catastrophic events or otherloss sites. Examples of social media include pictures, podcasts,microblogging, social blogs, Internet forums, web blogs, videos,etc. Smart phones make immediate access to social media eveneasier. Almost every adjuster has access to the Internet throughhis or her phone to seek out potential witnesses while standing atthe loss scene.

Social media sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook areparticularly well-suited for claims adjusters to review subrogationmaterials.

A View from the Cornfield/SubrogationBattlefield
Claims professionals should consider using YouTube, Twitter,Flickr, Facebook, blogs and Spokeo for locating videos pre- andpost-loss, witness identity and possible statements, as well asarticles about what happened and detailed background information onparties and witnesses.

YouTube allows individuals tosearch, watch, and share originally created videos. It also allowspeople to connect and acts as a distribution platform for originalcontent creators. YouTube can be a fantastic research tool foradjusters to search for videos of losses, including fires,explosions and other catastrophic events. For example, in the SanBruno, Calif., gas explosion incident, a multitude of videosshowing the scene immediately after the event were uploaded bybystanders. Those videos provided a variety of angles andperspectives and a key visual explanation as to how the firestarted and progressed. Because YouTube permits viewers to see liveevidence before investigators arrive and evidence is destroyed ornot preserved, it provides excellent visual information tounderstand the scope of the event, damages and the severity ofloss. It can also identify witnesses and capture potentialstatements recorded on videos.

YouTube content and other videos can be downloaded using freesoftware at www.ant.com/video-downloader,and saved for future use. One click saves any Internet video to acomputer as a Windows Media File.            

Twitter. A real-time information network thatpermits individuals to find tweets, Twitter contains short, publicstreams of information in 140 characters or less. A tweet can beviewed like a headline, and the details pane includes photos,videos, links and other accessible social media content.

Many catastrophic losses or traditional incidents have dozens oftweets, and information or statements from public investigators,public affairs officials, fire departments, witnesses, and evenparties to the incident, can be found. Tweets are only searchablefor about one and a half weeks, but may be available on Twitter'sfeed, and can include links to people, photos and news. Oftentimesindividuals' photos provide critical information about fires (thatis, how they started or spread) or other catastrophic losses early,as the event progresses. These can then be used with experts tochallenge or impeach later experts who claim the fire did not startin the area as suggested.

Further, Twitter contains witness details, such asbiography/background related to information drafted by the witnessthat can be sourced. A history of individual tweets can be found,as well as photos and links to websites, includingFacebook. 

Flickr. Roughly 10 million people participatein the site, and there are over five billion searchable photos.Flickr is a website allowing individuals to store, sort, search andshare photos online. In the Malibu wildfire loss on October 21,2007, a fire was alleged to have happened when a high voltageoverload transmission line failed and ignited.

In this wildfire loss, significant destructionoccurred where the fire was believed to have started. Photos afterthe loss did not show the transmission lines and secondary powerlines in the area of origin. Flickr was used to find pre-lossphotos which established numerous power poles and theirspecifically-detailed components in the origin area. In fact, thepurchased image was such a high quality that it was zoomed in on aniPad at depositions to be used with witnesses.

Facebook. A social networking service andwebsite that launched in February 2004, Facebook now has more than750 million active users as of July 2011, and at least 250 millionusers access their account through mobile devices.

Facebook can provide useful witness information concerningindividuals. Publically available information often lists birthdate, current employment and education information,religion/politics, relationship status, favorites, links toaffiliated websites, likes, and wall posts, which can includecommentary video and photos. The witness information found inFacebook provides more in-depth information as compared toTwitter. 

Spokeo. Finding critical information aboutwitnesses in a cost-effective manner is vital once a loss hasoccurred. One website of interest is Spokeo, which permits anindividual to conduct a free search by entering the first and lastname or other search criteria. Basic witness information includesaddress/phone, age, marital status, price paid for home, a Googlephoto of home, persons living in the household and known familymembers. For a $3 monthly fee, additional information may beobtained, such as email address, exact age, race/religion,political party, estimated income, social profiles, photos, videos,hobbies, lifestyles, and so on.

The Search for a Brain, Heart, Courage
Social media enhances subrogation evaluations by providing accessto photos, videos, witness statements and other materials that werepreviously difficult or impossible to find in the past. However,care needs to be taken when accessing public information, so as notto invade the privacy of a claimant/witness. Further, keeping therecovered information on a smart phone may not be secure. If thephone is not provided by your employer, then there could beargument that the contents may be discoverable. 

Social media information immediately available increases claimsadjuster efficiency and thoroughness in investigating losses.Checking YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sitesmay result in finding a yellow brick road to successful subrogationrecovery.