Discussion #1Based on authoritative sources (including peer revi.docx
Social Media vs Faud Detection By Lizzy Li
1. Social Media and Fraud Detection
ABSTRACT
Over the course of history, many businesses have failed not because of operating inefficiencies,
but as the result of criminal activities and /or inappropriate activities by others. Many studies
predict that during difficult recessions there will be a rise in economic fraud crimes due to
increased financial pressures. Businesses are the most common target victims of economic fraud,
because typically business deal with financial events. In addition, employees could easily find
the opportunities to commit fraud with incomplete internal control structures in businesses.
Therefore, business must have fraud prevention. It may not be possible to prevent all frauds, but
2. 1
business should be prepared. Once fraud occurs, businesses should use resources in fraud
detection, to protect themselves from unnecessary losses. This paper not only defines fraud,
social media, and outlines the relationships between social media and fraud detection, but also
presents resources for businesses and investigators to use in fraud investigation and detection.
The directions and perspectives will help with fraud investigation, as well as facilitate businesses
defending themselves from losses caused by fraud and embezzlement.
INTRODUCTION
Criminal activity is inclined to increase during difficult times in the economic cycles; with white-
collar crimes (economic crimes) being the most common (Levisohn, 2009). The National White
Collar Crime Center provides data which shows that from 1990 to 1992, white-collar fraud
arrests increased by 52 percent after the savings and loan crisis in 1990 (Bressler, 2011). Another
spike between 2000 and 2002, fraud arrests increased by 25 percent after the Internet crashed in
2000 (Bressler, 2011). Moreover, two enormous frauds were found at Enron and WorldCom
after the dot-com bubble collapsed in 2000. There were thousands of victims involved and
millions of dollars in losses (Levisohn, 2009). These economic disasters were alerts to the
business world.
What is fraud? It is done with the intent to deceive; it involves getting something from
others illegally. Fraud usually involves five elements. These include statements that were false,
material, knowingly given, were relied on by a victim, and resulted in damages to a victim or
victims. Fraud is defined as a criminal deception that uses false representations to obtain an
unjust advantage or to injure the rights and interest of others (Albrecht, 2012).
Table 1 and Figure 1 show reports of the national fraud and abuse in 2014 from the
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Based on 1,483 cases surveyed, it is
3. 2
estimated that fraud cost an organization 5 percent of their annual revenues. If this estimate is
used with the 2013 Gross World Product, it would result in approximately $3.7 trillion in losses
due to fraud. In addition, the ACFE 2014 report states that nearly 30 percent of the 1483 cases
studied were occupational fraud (ACFE, 2014). Occupational fraud involves abuses of the
structural system of an organization or a business for enrichment of the perpetrators personal
interests by intentional misappropriation of the organization or business assets (Rivera, 2014). A
median occupational fraud caused losses of $145,000 per victim, and 22 percent of the study
cases showed that there was more than $1 million in losses for each organization (ACFE, 2014).
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Insert Table 1 and Figure 1 Here
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It is no surprise to see that fraud continues to be a major concern for businesses. The
brutal fact is that these economic crimes have been threatening and harming businesses. Small
businesses tend to suffer more from occupational fraud, since most of them do not have
safeguards to prevent and detect occupational fraud (Bressler, 2011). In fact, fraud is a universal
crime for businesses around the world. Ten years ago, most people would not have thought about
using Internet searches to collect information to help support their litigation. However, it is very
possible today (Coenen, 2012). The next section of this paper will analyze the literature review
related to social media and fraud detection. After reading this paper, management should have a
better understanding of the relationship between social media and fraud detection. Management
should be able to use social media as an investigative tool for occupational fraud.
LITERATURE REVIEW
4. 3
Who is most likely to perpetrate fraud? The answer is that anyone could perpetrate fraud.
Fraudsters cannot be distinguished by race, geographic area, demographics, or psychological
characteristics. Often, many of the fraud perpetrators have good profiles or their profiles just
look the same as nice and honest people (Albrecht, 2012). For instance, occupational fraud
perpetrators usually have positions in organizations or businesses. They are just like you, your
friends, or colleagues; but perpetrators have compromised their honesty and integrity to become
entangled in fraud.
Why do people commit fraud? There are many reasons to perpetrate fraud. However,
three key elements are common among all frauds. Those elements include pressure, opportunity,
and rationalization. These three elements refer to the fraud triangle (Albrecht, 2012). Figure 2
illustrates the conditions for fraud that are specific to occupational fraud. It puts opportunity on
top, which means that people with low ethical standards are more inclined to commit fraud when
opportunity is present. Incentive (pressure) and rationalization are on the sides. Figure 2 also
gives examples of employee disgruntlement drivers, such as “career disappointment”, and the
“company owes me” mentality (Holton, 2009). These examples are reflections of occupational
fraud perpetrators’ psychological characteristics.
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Insert Figure 2 Here
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Figure 3 shows that occupational fraud can be classified into three primary categories.
These categories include financial statement fraud, corruption, and asset misappropriation.
Figure 4 shows that in 2014, the cause of 85.4 percent of occupational fraud cases that the ACFE
reported and analyzed was asset misappropriation (ACFE, 2014). Unfortunately, employee fraud
due to asset misappropriation has happened at a high rate in recent years. For example, a former
5. 4
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee, Keysha Logan committed fraud. She used her
occupational access privileges to approve her personal expenses totaling $82,000 as an FAA
expenditure (OIG, 2010). Another businessperson, Michelle Guy embezzled $2.2 million from
her former employer, HSBC in Brandon, FL (Tampabay, 2013). These examples indicate that no
matter how good an organization’s fraud prevention activities are, some frauds still can and will
occur.
Fraud detection requires technical skills, a number of investigative activities, and is very
time consuming. However, fraud investigators have a new friend - social media (Goldmann,
2012). The advancement in technology in recent years provides two major proactive fraud
detection methods. One is social media being used in the installation of hotlines and whistle-
blower systems. The other is the use of Internet based social media platforms to search and
discover suspicious activity, in an attempt to detect fraud before they become large (Albrecht,
2012).
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Insert Figure 3 and 4 Here
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The publicly available information sitting on the Internet is amazing. The Internet holds a
phenomenal amount of information for investigators and experts beyond databases. The web’s
capacity to aggregate information about individuals’ habits, hobbies, and interests is primarily
used as a marketing tool, but it also allows for an unprecedented glimpse into the private lives
and minds of investigative targets (Investigations, 2011). The Pew Internet and American Life
project reports that 46 percent of all American adults use at least one social networking site
(Ruotolo, 2012). The percentage of adults using social networking sites jumped from 8 percent in
2005 to 65 percent in 2011 (Cole, 2012). Facebook and LinkedIn collectively boast over 1.7
6. 5
billion users (Marasco, 2015), and social media has now become an additional investigative tool
in the detection of fraud (Cole, 2012).
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) describes social media
“as a group of internet-based applications that allows for the creation and exchange of user-
generated content” (Cole, 2012). There are so many types of social media. Table 2 shows the
different social media categories and corresponding definitions. The most popular social media
for individuals are Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, and LinkedIn. These
social media sites provide tools for people who wish to interact with each other by sharing
creations, exchanging information and thoughts in virtual communities, and building/maintaining
social relationships with others (Tufts, 2015). Concurrently, these online social network
functions also provide information for fraud investigators. “The very networks that allow us to
co-ordinate human activity can also be used to help identify criminals and uncover their
connections” (Gopal, 2012).
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Insert Table 2 Here
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Current Internet research is largely a manual exercise, but advanced analytics will
revamp how social media is used during investigations (Ruotolo, 2012). This paper will look at
how organizations and businesses are using social media as an investigative tool to collect
evidence that facilitates fraud detection. In addition, it will review how the use of this additional
investigative tool improves the detection of fraud and the bottom line of businesses. Therefore,
the subtopic of this paper will focus on how to use social media as a tool to detect occupational
fraud.
7. 6
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO DETECT OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD
First Proactive Approach: Whistleblower System
A number of fraud investigators and attorneys have learned that social media sites are helpful
tools in fraud investigation (Goldmann, 2012). As mentioned previously in the literature review
section, social media provides a function that assists businesses with the installation of
anonymous whistleblower systems. The ACFE reports that employees are valuable sources for
disclosing potential fraud. Figure 5 demonstrates that “tips” from employees using whistleblower
systems has consistently been a contributing factor in detecting occupational fraud. Figure 5
shows that 42.2 percent of occupational frauds were detected by “tips” from employees using
whistleblower systems in 2014, 43.3 percent in 2012, and 40.2 percent in 2010. The ACFE also
points out that “tips” acquired through these whistleblower systems has been the most common
way to detect occupational fraud since 2002, when the ACFE started to collect these statistics
(ACFE, 2014). Therefore, businesses should most certainly consider installing anonymous
whistleblower systems for employees regardless of the size of the organizations or businesses.
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Insert Figure 5 Here
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Businesses should place links on social media sites to the business’s whistleblower
policy. This includes links on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the business’ website
since this method is affordable and generally easy to implement. Businesses should state contact
information concisely and clearly for employees or others who wants to report potential
dishonest and fraudulent activities. This includes phone numbers of hotlines, online instant chat
8. 7
services, online message boxes, and email addresses. These social media connection services can
help businesses reduce the costs and risks of workplace delinquency.
Whistleblowers may not be willing to divulge to the business who he or she is, but that
person can send initial evidence anonymously through submission boxes at the workplace or
other online submissions. Nevertheless, organizations and businesses must setup whistleblower
systems as an anonymous and independent service. The received “tips” should be directly
reported to the board of directors or the owners of the business. Organizations and businesses
should make sure to let their employees and others know that whistleblowers have legal
protection under Sarbanes-Oxley. This will encourage and ensure that people can report potential
fraud without any fear of negative consequences to them personally (SEC, 2012)
In addition, businesses also need to provide independent online whistleblower
information that will assist employees with reporting potential frauds if the company they work
for cannot or will not provide sufficient whistleblower systems internally. Examples of
independent online whistleblower systems are listed below:
http://www.acfe.com - Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us - Federal Bureau of Investigation
http://www.nw3c.org - National White Collar Crime Center
http://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/risk/solutions/whistleblower.html - A well-known
international certificated professional accounting firm Deloitte
In summary, the fact is that “tips” from employees is the primary method of fraud
detection for organizations and businesses. As previously mentioned, two enormous frauds were
found at Enron and WorldCom. Both of the multi-billion dollar frauds were detected by
whistleblowers. For this reason, social media whistleblower systems play a key role in revealing
many occupational frauds (Sweeney, 2008).
9. 8
The Second Proactive Approach: A System of Conducting Social Media Searching
When a business receives a report of potential occupational fraud, the business should follow up
by utilizing a social media search system that is shown in Figure 6. There are five steps in using
social media to detect fraud: understanding, searching, analyzing, proving, and advising.
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Insert Figure 6 Here
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Understanding: All businesses and individual investigators should understand the four
types of evidence that could be collected in an occupational fraud investigation. Figure 7
presents the evidence square in occupational fraud investigation; it includes testimonial evidence,
documentary evidence, physical evidence, and personal observation evidence (Albrecht, 2012).
Social media searches belong to the documentary evidence category.
To detect occupational fraud, businesses, investigators, auditors, and employees should
understand fraud indicators and fraud symptoms. Occupational fraud symptoms can be classified
into six groups: accounting irregularity, analytical irregularity, internal control weakness,
extravagant lifestyle, unusual behavior, and tips and complaints (Albrecht, 2012).
Remember, not all of the indicators and symptoms involve fraud. Some of these issues
may only indicate employee work-related concerns, or a desire to do something that will harm
the business. Fraud investigators should have the knowledge to determine whether a potential
fraud exists (Albrecht, 2012). In addition, investigators should identify the purpose of the search
and what specific information is needed before starting to perform the online search (Ioma,
2011).
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10. 9
Insert Figure 7 Here
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Searching: In order to discover suspected fraud activity by using online social media to
search for and filter useful information, investigators can use advanced Google searches.
Investigators can utilize advanced search and filter functions to search for suspects by using a
photograph of the suspect. The advanced Google search can link to any of these social media
sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Blogs and allow the investigator to learn about the
suspect’s personal life. Social media allows the investigator to study the suspect’s friends,
family, and other personal information that is related to the suspect (Ioma, 2011). These are some
examples of websites that provide people search functions that could be helpful for fraud
investigators:
http://www.spokeo.com/
http://www.usersherlock.com/
https://namechk.com/
http://www.intelius.com/
Moreover, investigators can look through these searching tools to link to the social media
sites to discover and analyze the suspect’s behavior, and then use the online documents as
evidence for fraud detection. For example, the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan dismissed a plaintiff brought suit against her employer that fired her. The
court determined that the employer fired the plaintiff properly because the employer found
evidence of dishonesty from the plaintiff’s Facebook (Francis, 2013). Hence, social media
searching is a powerful tool for detecting occupational fraud.
Analyzing: Not every fraud involves just one perpetrator, and in many frauds that involve
multiple people it is often difficult to find direct evidence from social media networks.
11. 10
Investigators should analyze suspects’ social networks in order to reveal relationships between
suspects (Goldmann, 2012). For instance, employee A and B have access to breached assets, but
each of them work in different departments. When investigators search their social networks and
find that they share many common friends on Facebook, the fraud investigators may become
suspicious. To average people, it seems like these two employees do not know each other. In
fact, they have been connected with each other indirectly through social media networks in order
to avoid suspicion, because they know that they are doing something that is against their
company’s interest. However, it will become apparent to investigators who are analyzing the
different layers of social media connections in an attempt to uncover the indirect links
(Goldmann, 2012). In this example, based on the social media evidence collected by the
investigators, there is an indication that the two employees collaborated and committed fraud.
The difficult part is identifying the actual connection between these two employees. The
investigators were able to use social media networks to analyze perpetrators’ connections, which
helps generate a suspect list that can be used to uncover comprehensive and collaborative
occupational fraud (Goldmann, 2012).
Proving: Fraud investigators do not use online social media networks to only search for
suspects. They also can use social media networks to collect evidence that will help prove a
suspect’s guilt. One type of fraud this can be helpful with is billing schemes. Billing schemes
include one company either issuing or possessing invoices that are from a shell company or a
“ghost” vendor. For example, an employee embezzled nearly $1 million from his employer
through forged bills from a shell company that he created. Fraud investigators used a public
records search to prove that the company legally exists, but when the investigators traced the
12. 11
address and ownership of the company, they found out that the company belongs to the suspect’s
wife (Wells, 2013).
Another example of a fraudulent conversion that was detected by internal auditors
involves a former SUNY Brockport student by the name of David Villasmil. He was a store
manager at the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Marketplace Mall, Rochester NY. He stole from
Abercrombie & Fitch, defrauding the company of over $10,000 by fraudulently issuing store gift
cards to himself and then subsequently selling them to Plasticjungle.com. Unfortunately, for
David, all of these records were kept on a PayPal account, which the internal auditors used to
their advantage (Monroe, 2013). These examples show how fraud investigators can use
Craigslist, eBay, and Amazon to find company assets that should not be available for sale on
these websites, which helps trace perpetrators’ illegal online activity and prove that the
perpetrator is guilty of stealing company assets.
Advising: Even though there are many different ways to investigate frauds in the
previous steps, one should have fundamental knowledge about how to use social media to
investigate occupational fraud. Businesses must have the capabilities to navigate on social media
sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, because fraud suspects may use their social
media daily basis. However, fraud detection has a sensitive nature. Businesses need to be clear
on the specifics of the information that is to be sought after by using advanced social media
searching techniques (Ioma, 2011). In addition, businesses should exercise extreme care and due
diligence in finding out how fraud detections are conducted (Albrecht, 2012). While social media
sites are providing tremendous information to fraud investigators and helping with litigation, it
also brings concerns to the public. This is because the rules and regulations for fraud
investigators using social media sites are not being clear. The ACFE has stated that ethical
13. 12
concerns do not apply to informal investigations of social media sites, since the information on
these sites are available to the public (Goldmann, 2012). As long as the investigators do not
contact the fraud suspects directly, then searching for relevant information on these sites is
considered a completely legitimate fraud investigation technique. Nevertheless, businesses and
fraud investigators need to either consult with an attorney or find out what their state laws are
concerning social media usage for fraud detection (Goldmann, 2012).
Figure 8 displays the Fraudulent Act diagram, which demonstrates a perpetrator’s
actions. When the perpetrator commit fraud (the act), the perpetrator will try to hide their
fraudulent actions (concealment) that could be uncovered by others. Concealment includes acts
such as deleting relevant documents, records, and computer programs that could be
incriminating, or hiding misappropriated assets in secret places or in places that those assets
should not be. Moreover, the perpetrator(s) usually want to transform the assets that they have
stolen (conversion) into cash, since cash is easy for the perpetrator to use for their personal
needs.
However, the Fraudulent Act diagram also gives investigators hints on how to discover
fraud based on a perpetrator(s) actions. In fact, fraud investigators have turned the Fraudulent
Act diagram into three main fraud element investigative methods: theft act, concealment, and
conversion. The theft act investigative method involves efforts to uncover a perpetrator(s)
fraudulent act by collecting evidence of the actual theft behavior. The concealment investigative
method involves concentrating on the investigation of areas where the perpetrator(s) may try to
conceal their illegal actions. Investigators do this by examining documents and records,
searching computers, and tracing red flags to secret places. The conversion investigative method
involves investigating ways in which perpetrator(s) could have spent or used the assets that they
14. 13
have stolen. Investigators look at things like the perpetrator(s) life style and whether their assets
have been changed recently (Albrecht, 2012). Opportunities to catch perpetrators most often
comes from the three main fraud element investigative methods. Fraud investigators must pay
close attention to seemingly minor details, and they must be patient while following red flags
during the process of tracing/acquiring useful evidence that can reveal frauds. At the same time,
businesses/investigators need to be aware of the sensitive nature of fraud detection if they want
to be successful in their use of social media sites to investigate fraud suspects.
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Insert Figure 8 Here
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CONCLUSION
Fraud is a universal crime around the world. Occupational fraud has the highest percentage of
occurrence and it continues to be a major concern for businesses. Small businesses tend to suffer
more from occupational fraud due to most of them lacking a segregation of duties structure.
Whether the occupational fraud is financial statement fraud, corruption, or asset
misappropriation, it could happen at some point in the economic cycle during times of difficulty.
Therefore, businesses of all sizes should create positive work environments for their employees,
and they must have efficient internal control systems in place to limit or prevent occupational
fraud opportunities.
Once fraud occurs, businesses should use resources and tools for fraud detection, to
protect themselves from unnecessary losses. Figure 9 shows the Fraud Compass. It indicates that
15. 14
social media environments surround the work environment, fraudsters included. Social media
sites not only help install hotlines and whistleblower systems for fraud detection, but also
provide tremendous information that allows businesses to search for fraud suspects, analyze the
suspects’ connections, and can even provide evidence to prove that a perpetrator converted stolen
assets for personal gain. Since social media is a significant online platform for people wanting to
connect with each other, it is an essential weapon in the arsenal used by investigators to detect
fraud (Gopal, 2012). However, businesses and investigators must keep in mind that they should
consult with an attorney or find out what their state laws are concerning social media usage for
fraud detection, even though searching social media for suspect(s) is not considered as unethical.
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Insert Figure 9 Here
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References
ACFE. (2014). 2014 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. Ausitin:
ACFE.com. Retrieved from http://www.acfe.com/: http://www.acfe.com/rttn/docs/2014-
report-to-nations.pdf
ACFE1. (2014, December16). Top Fraud Predictions for 2015: Technology Will Shape the
Fight. Retrieved from http://www.acfe.com: http://www.acfe.com/press-
release.aspx?id=4294986539
Albrecht, W. S. (2012). Fraud Examination. Mason, OH: South-Westerm.
Bressler, M. S. (2011). THE ENEMY WITHIN: A STUDY OF EMPLOYEE CRIMINAL
ACTIVITY AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS. Entrepreneurial Executive, p49-61.
13p.
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Cole, C. R. (2012). The Use of Social Media by Insurers and Potential Legal and Regulatory
Concerns. Journal of Insurance Regulation. , p181-196. 16p.
Francis, V. L. (2013). Social media and employee monitoring: new lessons for employers.
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http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA340944637&v=2.1&u=brockport&it=r
&p=EAIM&sw=w
Goldmann, P. (2012, February 5). Social Media Sites: The Fraud Investigator’s New Best
Friend... But “Friending” Can be Risky. Retrieved from http://www.acfe.com:
http://www.acfe.com/fraud-examiner.aspx?id=4294971928
Gopal, R. D. (2012). Social network meets Sherlock Holmes: investigating the missing links of
fraud. Computer Fraud & Security, P12-18.
Holton, C. (2009). Identifying disgruntled employee systems fraud risk through text mining: A
simple solution for a multi-billion dollar problem. Decision Support Systems, P853-864.
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1 Graph.
Ioma. (2011). Tips for online investigations. Security Director's Report, P1. Retrieved from
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&p=ITOF&sw=w
Levisohn, B. (2009). Experts Say Fraud Likely to Rise. BusinessWeek Online, p6-6.
Marasco, J. I. (2015, Apr 29). Fraud Facts: Scammers keeping up with social media. Rochester:
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5-b8ff-4dae-92c4-
fa516ec93005%40sessionmgr4004&vid=2&hid=4103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl
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occupational-crime.html
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17. 16
SEC, U. (2012, December 27). Information on Whistleblower Protection Act and Whistleblower
Protection Enhancement Act. Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov:
https://www.sec.gov/eeoinfo/whistleblowers.htm
Sweeney, P. (2008). Hotlines Helpful for Blowing the Whistle. Financial Executive, P28-31.
Tampabay. (2013, March 5). Woman admits to theft of $2.2 million in HSBC employee
incentives. Retrieved from http://www.tampabay.com:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/woman-admits-to-theft-of-22-million-in-
hsbc-employee-incentives/2107123
Tufts. (2015, November 25). Social Media Overview. Retrieved from http://webcomm.tufts.edu:
http://webcomm.tufts.edu/social-media-overview13/
Wells, J. T. (2013). Corporated Fraud Handbook. Hoboken.New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.
Table 1. Geographical Location of Victim Organizations
Region
Number of
Cases
Percent
of Cases
Median Loss
(in U.S. dollars)
United States 646 48.0% $100,000
Sub-Saharan Africa 173 12.8% $120,000
Asia-Pacific 129 9.6% $240,000
Western Europe 98 7.3% $200,000
Eastern Europe and Western/CentralAsia 78 5.8% $383,000
Canada 58 4.3% $250,000
Latin America and the Caribbean 57 4.2% $200,000
18. 17
Southern Asia 55 4.1% $56,000
Middle East and North Africa 53 3.9% $248,000
19. 18
Figure 1. Distribution of Dollar Losses
51.9%
12.7%
6.9%
2.9%
2.0%
23.7%
55.5%
12.8%
5.7%
3.5%
1.9%
20.6%
54.4%
11.8%
6.6%
3.4%
1.8%
21.9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Less than $200,000
$200,000-$399,999
$400,000-$599,999
$600,000-$799,999
$800,000-999,999
$1,000,000 and up
2014 2012 2010
20. 19
Figure 2. Fraud Triangle – Employee Disgruntlement Drivers
Opportunity
Incentive
Conditions
for fraud
Rationalization
Career disappointment
Layoffs, known or
anticipated
Expected changes in
compensation or benefits
Rewards inconsistent with
expectations
“Company owes me,” for
instance because pay is
perceived to be low
I work too hard for this
company
23. 22
Table 2. Social Media Categories and Corresponding Definitions
Categories Definition Examples
Blogs
Services that allow the publication of discrete entries
(often containing reflections, comments, and
hyperlinks) provided by an author or company; often
allows interactivity between and with readers
Lulu Blog
Wegmans Blog
Google Blogspot
Bookmarking
Sites
Services that allow users to save, organize, and
manage links
Pinterest
Delicious
Licorize
Crowdsourcing
Services that allow users to obtain needed services,
ideas, or content by enlisting contributions, either
paid or unpaid, from a large number of people online
Crowdspring
oDesk
PieceWise
Discussion
Forums
Services that allow for discussion among users,
frequently moderated by one or more individuals
DelphiForums
Adobe Community
Google+
Media
Sharing
Services that allow a person to upload and share
pictures, video, and audio files
Flickr
YouTube
Instagram
Microblogs
Services that focus on short updates to subscribers,
mostly text-oriented, although a few allow other
media
Twitter
Tumblr
Plurk
Social
Commerce
Services that allow users to buy and sell products and
services online
Craigslist
eBay
Amazon
Social
News
Services that allow users to post news items or links
to articles and vote on them
Digg
Reddit
Upworthy
Social
Networks
Services that allow users to connect with others of
similar interests, both personally and professionally
Facebook
Linkedin
Myspace
Virtual
Game Worlds
Services that allow users to interact in a massively
multi-player online role-playing game
World of Warcraft
Lord of the Rings
Online
Runescape
Virtual
Social Worlds
Services that allow users to mimic real world
interactions
Second Life
Small Worlds
Gaia Online
Wikis
Services that allow collaborative editing of content
and structure by its users
Wikipedia
WikiAnswers
LyricWiki
