Your views are never really your own
In my job, I’m often found on Twitter and Facebook – not for leisure, but rather stalking people to find necessary information that I need to know about them, be it email addresses, beats, talking points, and so on.
In most cases, the people I am stalking (mostly journalists) include the phrase “views are my own” in their Twitter biographies, indicating that what they tweet about is their business and does not reflect the ethics and interests of their employer or media house.
I’m not so sure that “views are my own” can successfully stand on its own defence. Consider at the matter of applying for a job – we all know that a potential employer reviews more than just your CV and interview performance: your social media reputation can play a huge role on whether or not you may get that job. With this understanding, what you post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter can make or break your career (existing or future).
I have recently gone through a clean-up of my Twitter. Not because I have any risky information that I would prefer to be hidden, but rather because I would prefer to build a more professional image on the social media platform. I started Twitter back in 2009 – I was at the young, naïve age of 17 years old (young), with no clue what I wanted to be and desperate for attention. Needless to say, my tweets ranged from whining about fake friends, being screwed over by ‘that guy’, subtweets galore, and silly nonsensical rambling crammed into 140 characters. As I grew up and believed I was maturing, I began to create an image of myself on Twitter (and Facebook) as a witty, sometimes cynical, go-to profile to get comical relief during your day.
To me, Facebook is more personal. You have the power to hide your profile from those not directly friends with you; however this does not entirely protect you. Everything you post online is automatically stored on some server and chances are, Google has already added it to their search results. Google yourself and check out the pictures that come up – there will, in most cases, be a copy of your first ever Facebook profile picture.
Twitter is more public: if you don’t protect your profile, your tweets have the chance to reach thousands of active Twitter users with one simple Retweet. Your comments, jokes, opinions and pictures can destroy your personal and professional life within seconds.
First impressions aren’t solid
As Sean Riley, CEO of Ad:Dynamo, acknowledges “Twitter can offer brands 100% potential organic reach to all followers.” If you’re as much of a dummy to this as I am, what this simply means is that a brands’ tweets can successfully connect the brand to customer, building a strong relationship and commitment to the brand.
Riley, speaking at Heavy Chef’s 2014 event, went on to address that Twitter can be positioned as an “information platform rather than a social network”. Twitter has the power to influence others in 140 characters or less – it is “live, public and conversational.”
Riley uses the example of the Apple iPhone 6, which trended on Twitter when some customers revealed that their brand new phones were bending when placed in their pockets. Apple, a world-leading brand, managed to go from being the super cool uncle that gives you super cool toys, to the deadbeat family relative that you only see on holidays because you have to, not because you want to. Thus proving first impressions won’t save your rear-end when times get tough. Sure, Apple has the upper-hand, being an innovative world-leading company – you, on the other hand are not, and your brand (how you present yourself to the public) will not have the chance to fully recover from online backlash.
One Tweet can destroy your brand
No matter how many times you might say “views are my own” in your biography, it will never protect your opinion from being on the front line of the shooting range. Take Justine Sacco for example: her “Going to Africa” tweet created such an uproar on social media that Sacco was immediately fired from her job (before she even turned on her phone) and her professional reputation was shredded to pieces. Journalists had a field day destroying her clean image and Sacco went from PR Boss to nobody within minutes. No company wanted to go near her, even though her tweet was a joke and her own views.
Let’s take a look at a more recent, more local example. Dianne Kohler Barnard, member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), on 15 September shared a Facebook friend’s status update addressing the state of crime in South Africa. In the status, Barnard’s Facebook friend shared his views that PW Botha should return to help South Africa recover from its current state of being. Barnard, being not only in a politically influential position, but also a former journalist, was interviewed on John Robbie’s show on 702 and claimed that she did not consider the implications of what she shared because it is on her own private Facebook account and if anyone wants to question the content of the status update, they should chat to the person who typed the original status in the first place.
Barnard believed that, because it was on her own personal Facebook profile it would be considered private and not reflect your professional image. However, with one simple screen grab, the post was published on Twitter and has exploded on all major South African news sites. As a result, Dianne Kohler Barnard was fired from the influential political party – all because she shared some guy’s status on Facebook.
When I was younger, my parents and teachers always said to me, think before you speak. If we translate this into adult-talk, it is important to consider the implications of what you are about to say: is it inappropriate and will it offend anyone? Using Twitter and other social media platforms is the same as speaking but the one advantage of speaking is that once you say it, it’s gone and chances are people will forget about it in a few months (granted there aren’t any cameras or microphones involved). When is said online can be screen-grabbed and circulated for years. Think before you tweet.
Sure, I’m not always good with my online reputation, and I do still have the odd desire to vent my frustrations on Twitter, but I’m starting to become more aware of this in my efforts to break the bad habit. A clean online profile means a clean reputation. If you want to complain or make a bad joke, get a diary instead.