Five years ago it was more than acceptable to be amazed by the power of Myspace or Facebook. Three years ago it was the accepted norm it that was transforming the way we communicate in our daily lives. Well since then not all that much has changed. People still seem to be amazed when things that happen on these websites affect life.
Take for example the football player Joey Barton. As this blog here details, this is a man who has violently attacked people three times, he has spend time in prison and said controversial messages in tweets about his football club. Unfortunately his football club's biggest issue with the three of those incidents is the tweets. The tweets have made him all but be fired. Yes the violent outbursts contributed, but it was the tweets that sealed his fate.
I'm sorry but I find it bizarre that 160 characters can get you fired, but hitting someone in the head 20 times in front of a McDonalds doesn't.
Social media is a reflection of who we are. It is not some amazing alternate reality. Myspace and Friendster helped get us into this, but now we are well in the age of Web 2.0. We have choice now. Those who like to speak a lot use Twitter, those who don't may use Facebook, some might not use any at all. The actions people make and the things they say on these websites should be treated the same as if they were said in person, a footballer tweeting is them giving a soundbite into a mic. When a worker publishes not that they had a bad day at work, but that their work is shit then they should be punished. If they say they had a bad day then no, they had a bad day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
It doesn't help that everyone and every organisation is paranoid about image but the best way to cope with social media and its effects is to be reasonable about it all. Remember it is meant to help our lives after all.
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