Research Guide

Social Media

Kiwi Farms

Description:

WARNING: This source contains illegal, explicit and offensive content. Kiwi Farms is a forum explicitly dedicated to the targeted harassment of certain communities and individuals. The site often explicitly targets online personalities based on gender, sexuality and race, and the campaigns against their targets can involve anything from online harassment to doxxing or “SWATing.” Multiple targets of harrassment on the site have committed suicide. Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has previously deleted archives of the site due to the massive exposure of private information. Kiwi Farms forums can be searched for mentions of specific individuals or their connections.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

http://kiwifarms.net/

https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/7/23341051/kiwi-farms-internet-archive-backup-removal

Description:

Before conducting research on LinkedIn, consider whether you should be browsing in Private Mode. To enable Private Mode, navigate to the Settings and Privacy page, select Visibility in the left-hand panel, and click on “Profile Viewing Options.” To identify people currently or formerly associated with a specific company or company location, use the Search feature’s Filters. If LinkedIn does not allow you to view the full profile of someone outside your network, try copying the visible text of the profile, pasting it into the Google search bar in quotes, and limiting your Google search to the LinkedIn domain by adding site:linkedin.com to your search string.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Professional History, Social Media, Associated People

https://www.linkedin.com

Mastodon

Description:

Mastodon is a software tool (a kind of server) used by communities to launch their own ‘decentralized’ social media communities on the ‘fediverse,’ or federated universe of social media servers. These are based on an open standard called ActivityPub, which allows use of a single social presence to participate in multiple social media servers. Mastodon.Social is one of those websites, but there are thousands of active servers with different content focuses across the internet using Mastodon. In searching for an individual across Mastodon servers, you effectively search for them across thousands of social media platforms at the same time.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://joinmastodon.org/

MeWe

Description:

MeWe is a decentralized social media platform with a focus on the blockchain. The app may be useful for identifying fringe connections to an individual and finding online discussion of them among groups not able to openly post on mainstream social media.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://mewe.com/register

Medium

Description:

Medium is a social publishing platform for articles, newsletters and other written work. You can search the platform for writings on, about or by individuals and other individuals and organizations connected to them.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://medium.com/

NEXUS Mountain Network

Description:

NEXUS Mountain Network is a Christian social network. Searching for members requires an account.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://www.nexusmountainnetwork.com/

Parler

Description:

Parler is a social media platform geared toward conservatives and the ‘alternative web,’ similar to Telegram and Truth Social. The platform was previously shut down by Amazon Cloud Services and removed from the Apple and Google app stores in 2021 for failing to moderate mass incitements to violence. Parler was shut down again in 2023 before new ownership relaunched it. The app may be useful for identifying connections to an individual and finding online discussion of them among groups that do not openly post on mainstream social media.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://parler.com/

Patriots.win

Description:

In 2020, Reddit banned the r/The_Donald subreddit alongside thousands of other communities following an update to the site’s policies on hate speech and targeted harassment. The community now exists on an externally hosted forum at patriots.win, where users post political discussion alongside incendiary content, hate speech and racism. Neither the community nor the website is connected to former president Donald Trump or the Trump campaign. Use the site search to find posts mentioning specific individuals.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://patriots.win

Pimeyes.com

Description:

Pimeyes reverse image search option, unlike other searches, uses facial recognition technology. Use it to find online content connected to an individual at any age, even if the individual did not post it themselves or their name is not associated with it.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media

http://pimeyes.com/

Pinterest Visual Search Tool

Description:

The Pinterest Visual Search tool allows you to take a picture of an item and use it to search for products on Pinterest.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Social Media, Associated People

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/230809549630877500/

Politwoops

Description:

Politwoops was a tracker documenting tweets by public officials, first created and maintained by the Sunlight Foundation and then by Propublica. Because of changes to Twitter’s API, ProPublica is no longer updating this database. Use it to find deleted tweets from the past.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media

https://projects.propublica.org/politwoops/

Description:

Reddit is a social platform composed of communities or ‘subreddits’ made by users on a variety of topics. The site runs on an ‘upvote’ and ‘downvote’ system to rank content and discussions, and content moderation is largely done by user moderators for each community. Use Reddit’s built-in search tools or an external tool, like Reddit Comment Search or GummySearch. Reddit is largely anonymous, but individuals may be topics of discussion, or users might identify themselves in a discussion or because of mandatory identification for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) or similar event.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Social Media, Associated People

https://www.reddit.com/

Rumble

Description:

This is a video platform similar to YouTube, and it is owned by the same company that hosts Truth Social. It has less moderation than YouTube.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://rumble.com/

Snapchat

Description:

Snapchat is a social media and ephemeral photo/video sharing platform. Images and videos are shared as “snaps,” or media with a limited lifespan. The platform also supports messaging, comments and user-following. Researchers can use the ‘snap map’ feature to see public stories on a heatmap around specific geographic locations.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://www.snapchat.com/

Strava

Description:

Strava is a social media and fitness tracking website. It enables users to log and compare their fitness activity and to connect with other people sharing similar fitness information. Users can share data logged from fitness tracking devices. Because of this, Strava can be a fruitful resource when looking for GPS data from a given person. For example, if an individual is an avid user of Strava, you may be able to decipher where they live, at least within a mile from their home.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Social Media, Associated People

https://www.strava.com/

Substack

Description:

Substack is a blogging and newsletter platform. The website provides writers with hosting and distribution services and serves as a search engine and recommendation system for users to find similar newsletters and writing. You can use this website to find writing and information on specific topics.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://substack.com/

Description:

Telegram is a messaging app that notably hosts a number of public or members-only groups and channels, which post and discuss content on specific topics or with an emphasis on specific members. Telegram channels that you can subscribe to can be searched on the app. The app may be useful for identifying connections to an individual and finding online discussion of them among groups that do not post on mainstream social media.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://telegram.org/

TinEye

Description:

TinEye is a reverse image search engine. When uploading an image, you can find out where it came from, how it’s being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or if there are higher resolution versions.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Background and Family, Educational History, Professional History, Political History, Civil Litigation and Criminal Cases, Nonprofits, Campaign Finance, Personal Finances, Social Media, Associated People

https://tineye.com/

Truth Social

Description:

Truth Social is a social media platform built for conservatives and is owned by Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group. It boasts free speech protections and light moderation and is a home for many politicians trying to reach conservative voters. The site has a feed similar to X and a catalog of topic-specific groups. You must be logged in to browse the platform and search it by keyword. It may be useful for identifying connections to an individual and finding online discussion of them among groups that do not post on mainstream social media.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://truthsocial.com/

Tumblr

Description:

This is a microblogging and social media site encouraging short- and medium- format posts and media hosting (mostly images). The site can provide insight into a subject’s personal views or personal media.

Resource Type:

Media and Other Open Sources

Area of Investigation:

Social Media, Associated People

https://www.tumblr.com/