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How Social Media Can Impact Your Personal Injury Claim? Social Media Impact – Personal Injury Claims Can you imagine what your life would be like without social media? Social media platforms have become an integral part of our lives. The use of social media is becoming more common every day, so much that people use it to inform family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances of their everyday activities. According to Statista, 79 percent of the U.S. population has a social networking profile. That is equivalent to 247 million social media users.
Is Social Media Private? As harmless as social media may seem, those who post to social media sites need to understand that their personal information isn’t as private as they think. Unfortunately, people who use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp, share pictures, videos, personal feelings and profiles that may be seen by anyone who can access their postings. In fact, social media users need to assume that once they post something online, it will be seen by people they don’t want to see it.
Social Media Posts Can Harm Your Personal Injury Claim It’s understandable that an injured person would want to tell family and friends about their injuries, but the things they say and do on social media can make settling their claim more difficult. Even the things other people, such as friends, family members, and acquaintances post on social media can be detrimental to their personal injury claim. If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence and then file a lawsuit, your life will become an open book. Insurance companies will investigate your injuries and will leave no stone unturned. Insurance
companies want to know if the injuries you sustained are as bad as you say they are and will try to prove that you are exaggerating those injuries. In addition to physical injuries, people suffer from emotional injuries such as depression, loss of enjoyment, isolation, anxiety, and withdrawal. Physical injuries such as broken bones and trauma are easy to see, but emotional injuries are not. If someone claims they are having emotional problems and recent pictures of them laughing, dancing, and smiling appear on social media, an insurance company will use those posts against them. Even simple conversations, such as daily postings with smiley faces or a cheery attitude, can make someone look happier and much less sick than they actually are. If you live in California and have questions about your personal injury accident, you can call a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer for advice.
Ideal Social Media Practices Posting anything online can be harmful to your lawsuit. After being injured, the best thing you can do is to suspend your social media accounts or stop using them altogether. Ask your family, friends, and social media contacts to refrain from mentioning, talking about, or posting pictures or information about your personal life. Insurance company representatives or investigators may even ask to “friend you”, pretending to be someone who wants to read your social media posts and get to know you better. Social media environments tend to encourage friending people you don’t know, but they can be counterproductive when suing for injuries. Consider calling a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer for advice about a personal injury claim.
Call an Experienced Los Angeles Personal Injury Law Firm The only way to prevent insurance companies from using information against you is to keep the details of your personal life to yourself. Don’t talk with anyone about your personal injury case. Don’t share, and don’t allow friends and family to share, your life on social media. Insurance companies are notorious for trying to convince people they aren’t injured and that they (insurance company) are not responsible. They gladly accept insurance policy premiums but hate paying injury claims. Be smart by making sure the insurance companies can’t use your personal information against you. M&Y Personal Injury Lawyers is a Los Angeles personal injury law firm that knows the tactics insurance companies use to avoid paying out on personal injury claims, including the tactics they use in collecting information from social media sites. We put our extensive personal injury knowledge and experience to work and fight to get our clients the compensation they deserve. If you or someone you love has been injured, give us a call at (818) 650-3861 or click this link and fill out the online form for a free consultation.