How Social Media Can Harm Your Personal Injury Claim

Social media has become a natural part of many people’s daily lives. From posting pictures to sharing thoughts with others and talking to family and friends, there is a platform for everything and everyone. While social media may help people feel more connected to others, it can also be a dangerous place to share your thoughts and status updates. This is especially true if you are the victim of an accident and in the process of pursuing compensation for your injuries.

Understanding how your social media presence can harm your personal injury claim is crucial for Florida accident victims. Now is the right time to learn why a social media diet is in order.

How Social Media Can Be Used Against You

It can be tempting to share your thoughts on social media platforms, especially after an accident. After all, you might want to let friends and family know what happened and that you are okay. However, using social media after an accident can jeopardize your claim, and insurers and opposing parties are not shy about using your words against you to limit their liability, diminishing the value of your claim or outright denying it.

Why can social media be so damaging? First, you may intentionally or inadvertently offer inconsistent statements or inaccuracies contradicting your claim. If the details in your social media post do not precisely match those you provided to your insurance company, that can hurt your credibility and potentially damage your compensation claim. You may not have even meant to misrepresent the accident. It may be a case of forgetting a detail or leaving out information you didn’t think was important. Insurers or opposing attorneys don’t care. When stories don’t match, they can question your entire account of the accident.

Social media posts can also look like an admission of guilt. Going online and apologizing for being in an accident or disclosing too many details about how the accident occurred and your role in the crash can be used as an admission of fault, limiting the compensation you may recover for your injuries, depending on the situation.

Even normal pictures and statements made on social media can destroy your credibility or discredit your claim. Posting photos of yourself at the beach or enjoying a family member’s birthday party can potentially demonstrate to an insurer that your injuries are not as severe as you claim, that you are not debilitated, or that you are not suffering any pain or mental suffering.

Common Social Media Mistakes to Avoid During an Injury Claim

You can protect yourself by sticking to a few common-sense precautions to help you avoid social media mistakes and pitfalls that can hurt your injury claim:

• Do not post about the accident on social media
• Never share pictures of the accident online
• Do not talk about your injuries online
• Do not make comments on social media telling people that you are “okay” or “fine” after an accident
• Avoid posting photographs or comments about your activities on social media
• Do not accept any new friend requests, especially from people that you don’t know
• If you do post something on social media, do not delete it
• Limit or avoid interactions with others on social media platforms
• Do not use social media to vent or express your frustrations
• Ask others to avoid tagging you in their photos or posts

Some wise things to consider to manage your social media profiles at this time include:

• Revamping your privacy settings and setting all profiles to private
• Avoid posting online until your claim gets resolved
• Consult with a personal injury attorney to get help managing your claim and social media presence

Social media posts can hurt your compensation claim. They can also be used against you by opposing attorneys if you attempt to file a personal injury lawsuit seeking compensation for your injuries. Most social media content is recognized as admissible in court and can damage your case.

What to Do with Your Social Media During a Personal Injury Case

The best thing you can do for yourself following an accident is to avoid social media altogether, take a break from posting on all platforms, and go on a social media diet. That also means avoiding location check-ins and commenting on other posts. For some people, this can be more challenging than for others. However, it is the best way to protect yourself and avoid insurers and others from seeking out personal information, statements, and pictures that can be used against you by others to deny or diminish your claim.

In addition to updating your social media privacy settings, consider deactivating your accounts until your attorney resolves your situation. You can reactivate your accounts later and resume activity on your social media pages. Deactivating accounts can help prevent you from making social media mistakes or posting in anger or frustration on bad days or excitement on good days.

Finally, ask friends and family to join you in taking a break from social media or refraining from posting and taking pictures for a while. Ask them to respect your privacy during this challenging time and let them know that you’ll keep them up to date, but in ways that do not utilize social media platforms to share information.

Talk to a Florida Personal Injury Attorney About Your Claim Today

An attorney can help you manage more than the intricate nuances of filing a solid compensation claim following an accident. They can also help you manage the potential landmines that social media posts and information can pose to your situation. At Werner, Hoffman, Greig & Garcia, our personal injury attorneys can help you manage an accident claim from start to finish, giving you the strongest likelihood of obtaining the money you deserve. Contact us online or call our Florida office at 800-320-4537 to request a free case evaluation to learn more about how we can help protect you.