In today’s world of social media, investigators are taking on a new role; they are becoming a form of eyewitness. As the eyewitness, an investigator observes evidence that might not be visible to any other available investigator. The investigator is wise to create a record of what he or she sees at any particular point in time, including print outs of screenshots.
Screenshots, combined with written eyewitness reports, are commonly used today to record what an investigator observes in social media. However, the process of making screenshots and written reports is less than perfect. Pulling together 25 pages of screenshots off a Facebook wall, creating a report, and detailing each screenshot is time consuming. Ultimately a court or legal authority like a jury will look to you as the eyewitness, to determine what happened and whether they believe you or not.
As with any eyewitness testimony, two corroborating witnesses are much better than one. Therefore if you can get a second person involved you can improve the credibility of the evidence being collected for presentation in the courtroom.