Or at least provides an alibi when you need it most.

Such was the case with seventeen year old Rodney Bradford, a 17 year old from Brooklyn, arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and incarcerated for twelve days on Rikers Island awaiting trial.

Rodney was accused of robbing two people in a Brooklyn housing project, where Rodney also resided. However, Rodney insisted he was at his father’s apartment in Manhattan at the time the crime took place. His alibi was backed up by his father, but the police believed neither of them.

That all changed when Rodney remembered that he had left a message on FaceBook for his girlfriend that simply read, ” where my IHOP?” in reference to an ongoing joke he was having with his girlfriend.

It turns out that the Facebook update took place one minute before the armed robbery in Brooklyn twelve miles away.

All charges have since been dropped and Bradford has been released unconditionally. He now has an attorney working on his behalf to seek damages from the city for the wrongful incarceration. Perhaps Mr Bradford will keep us all update on his lawsuit with Facebook updates!