Forensic investigation of social networking applications

Social networking applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter provide facilities including email, blogging, instant messaging and photo sharing for social and commercial exchange.1 There has been a rapid growth in the use of social networking applications by both individuals and organisations.2,3 And an increasing number of organisations use Facebook and Twitter as part of their marketing campaigns.4,5 Social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn may be involved in instances of misuse that can affect both organisations and individuals. Dr Mark Taylor, Dr John Haggerty, David Gresty, Peter Almond and Dr Tom Berry of Liverpool John Moores University, Nottingham Trent University and University of Greenwich examine the forensic process of obtaining digital evidence from social networking applications and the legal aspects involved in potential misuse