IMAGE COMPOSED by Victoria JordanI am a public relations major and a part of my future career will consist of monitoring social media sites. Classes and experience have helped me develop remarkably analytical ways of observing things people pos. Most of these are big-time corporations, professional athletes, celebrities and other students like me.
I follow blogs and Twitter, and Facebook accounts, mostly for personal entertainment. There are rare occasions when I do not find some kind of humor or interest in what they post. However, what isn’t so funny or intriguing but is actually quite annoying and bothersome are the posts that scream for attention.
Before I begin my spiel, I’d like to mention that I care very little for unnecessary and often unintelligent Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts. I usually find myself “un-friending” and “unfollowing” these people. I understand if someone is thrilled about their long workout at the gym and the protein shake they had afterwards, but what is the reason to let everyone in your social network of friends aware of this information?
To top it off, they often post a picture of their accomplishment, tagging not only themselves but the shake as well. I’m a healthnut myself, but I find no desire to let everyone on the web know that my workout and choice of food is better than theirs.
I follow blogs and Twitter, and Facebook accounts, mostly for personal entertainment. There are rare occasions when I do not find some kind of humor or interest in what they post. However, what isn’t so funny or intriguing but is actually quite annoying and bothersome are the posts that scream for attention.
Before I begin my spiel, I’d like to mention that I care very little for unnecessary and often unintelligent Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts. I usually find myself “un-friending” and “unfollowing” these people. I understand if someone is thrilled about their long workout at the gym and the protein shake they had afterwards, but what is the reason to let everyone in your social network of friends aware of this information?
To top it off, they often post a picture of their accomplishment, tagging not only themselves but the shake as well. I’m a healthnut myself, but I find no desire to let everyone on the web know that my workout and choice of food is better than theirs.
Fine, I’ll let it slide for those who find it necessary to post such things for their friends to “retweet” or “like” if this is their motivation to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
However, the posts that really annoy me, and I’m sure many others, are the ones that intentionally degrade someone or something. I’ve seen countless posts, tweets and pictures that are obviously meant to humiliate, embarrass and aggravate another person.
Even worse are the ones that have a strong potential of harming someone’s reputation. Want some examples?
“@nameless like she obviously couldn’t have worn a tighter top, at least not in her size #fatgirlproblems.” (1 hour ago)
Posted 3 days ago: “I have to listen to this piece of $#!% lecture me in a class I need. Anyone else having no luck? Follow my blog. I rant about it daily.”
Nameless Girl to Other Nameless Girl, 3:49 pm: “tell me how we didn’t get in but the B!%@$ in front of us did? so not having that again.” (5 likes, 2 comments)
I’ve seen far, far worse written than the examples above, but I am positive that almost everyone has seen something similar to them. Why is it that people are so desperate to share these kinds of vulgar comments online?
The vast majority of us have cell phones that enable us to vent about situations through a call or a text. Instead, people choose to share their life stories with all of their Facebook friends, Twitter and blog followers, many of whom they may not have spoken to in years. It is especially shocking to read these posts if you may be the person someone is writing about.
For the national companies that make big-time bloopers such as these, their consequences are well known by the public. Public relations specialists in crisis management often cover their sorry butts for making the mistake in the first place. Celebrities and professional athletes also face this same issue and also hire their own PR specialist if they cannot handle a crisis properly.
On the other hand, normal people like us must take accountability for what we post on the Internet and then anxiously await for other people to see. We are each our own public relations person and need to treat everything we post as if the whole world can see it.
If you feel the overwhelming need to share something with someone, how about writing it down the old-fashioned way on a sheet of loose-leaf paper to get it off your chest? If you rush ahead and post what you want to say, everyone who can see it will see it; those who can’t eventually will too.
A professor once told me, “If you don’t want your name next to it on the front page of The New York Times, don’t write it.” All of us can learn that lesson, and many of us have when we were younger.
Do yourself a favor and remember what mommy used to say: if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.
IMAGE COMPOSED by Victoria Jordan
