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Insurance companies and their legal staff often rely on social media as an investigative tool when negotiating a personal injury settlement. They will dedicate resources to digging through posts on various social media platforms to find any information that may cast a shred of doubt on the credibility of the injury. If you are working with a personal injury attorney to file a claim, there are a few things that you should keep in mind before you post to social media again. Here are some tips to help protect yourself while your case is in negotiation.

Don't Purge Anything from Your Accounts

If you have been active on social media for a long time and there's anything on your accounts that could undermine your claim, deleting it after the claim is filed may look suspicious. In fact, if the insurance company has already started researching and discovered the information, they may be able to claim that you attempted to manipulate evidence.

Talk with your attorney about anything you have concerns about. The more your personal injury attorney knows up front, the more effective he or she can be at defending you. By sharing the information early, it helps to avoid surprises later and gives your lawyer time to decide how best to address it.

Don't Discuss the Case Online

If you do post anything to social media, make sure that you steer clear of anything to do with the case. Don't discuss the accident, anything your attorney says or anything else directly connected to the case. Anything you post on social media can be used as evidence against you during the negotiations and may affect your settlement.

This means that you'll have to resist the urge to even post anything that says that you've been in an accident, even if your intent is to reassure your friends that you are okay. The insurance company can use those assurances to claim that you aren't injured as seriously as you claim to be.

Be Selective about Your Posts and Audience

Posts that you might otherwise consider to be completely innocent can be interpreted in many ways, particularly when you are dealing with a personal injury settlement. If you attend a holiday gathering or a party, images posted of you having a good time could easily become evidence that you aren't in as much pain as the settlement letters indicated. Make sure that your friends are cautious about what they post of you, and be choosy yourself. In fact, you may even want to set your privacy settings so that you can't be tagged in images and your social media accounts aren't visible by anyone but your friends.

Your personal injury attorney can provide you with more case-specific guidance about what is acceptable on your social media accounts, but the tips presented here are genera guidelines that can help you avoid trouble. With some careful thought and selective use of your accounts, you can protect the integrity of your case. For more information, talk to someone like Donald L Scales.