### Explanation Content on social media platforms and websites is frequently copied and archived through various means: - **Automated archival**: Services like web.archive.org systematically preserve web content - **Business indexing**: Companies collect and monetize content through advertising, data mining, and resale to third parties - **Manual copying**: Users can manually save and repost content across platforms - **Content aggregation**: Third-party services that collect and mirror content from multiple sources This content persistence creates digital footprints that can reveal patterns, including: - Similar writing styles across platforms - Reposted content across accounts - Networks of connected accounts (e.g. botnets) - Historical versions of modified/deleted content ### Examples - [Reflections as the Internet Archive turns 25](https://blog.archive.org/2021/07/21/reflections-as-the-internet-archive-turns-25/) - [How does Google Cache Work & How to Leverage it for SEO: Tips & FAQs](https://www.ranktracker.com/blog/how-does-google-cache-work-how-to-leverage-it-for-seo-tips-fa-qs/) ### Types - technical - business ### See also - [[SOWEL-3. Creating Content]] ### Typical techniques - [[SOTL-7.1. Check Archives]] - [[SOTL-7.2. Check Caches]] - [[SOTL-7.3. Check Aggregators And Mirrors]] - [[SOTL-7.4. Conduct Reverse Image Search]]