The representatives of the Orange County school district in Florida speculate that monitoring social media it is possible to track a profile of the students and quickly respond when students are exposed to serious risks. The initiative aims to prevent cyberbullying episodes, crime and also suicide.

Snaptrends can collect information from social media and make possible to perform intelligence activities on them, for example, giving the operators the ability to query the system to analyze what is being talked about in a specific place or looking for particular keywords.

Of course the adoption of the system is raising a heated debate on privacy concerns, but we must be conscious that systems like Snaptrends could help to protect children. The system could also help law enforcement to gather information on risky situations.

“This is a tool that gives the district intelligence into a situation that could possibly prevent something more serious from happening,” Orange County Public Schools Senior Director of Safety and Security Doug Tripp said.

“Safety in and around school campuses is the top priority for Orange County school leaders,” OCPS said in a news release.  “Recognizing social media is a major communication system, the district has acquired social media monitoring software.”

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Snaptrends, social media monitoring)