KUSA-TV reporter Jace Larson used Facebook to help unravel a housing scam in his story, “Keys to the Castle.”
He tracked down a man accused of being at the center of the case, discovering his page on Facebook. The man’s privacy settings allowed his friends to be seen — half of which were in Malaysia — and Larson sent Facebook messages to several of them to see if they’d talk about the story.
“People are willing to talk. It’s like knocking on a neighbor’s door. They will tell you a lot,” Larson said in this Newslab story. Sounds like a great way to put Facebook to work for anyone investigating a story (and a good reminder about those privacy settings). The investigation won a 2011 duPont-Columbia Award.
Advertisement