We Are The Internet

Thinking Today about how your Social Media Content will affect your Tomorrow

We have a federal election happening right now in Canada – in October we will be electing a Prime Minister (same as the US President). More so than the last one four years ago, social media is playing an even bigger part in the election.

In the past few weeks there have been several cases of candidates pulling out of the election because of actions they did that were posted on social media one way or another – tweets, and YouTube videos mostly. The course of their lives have all taken a shift because of social media.

Here’s a short recap of a few of them (warning … a couple are vulgar)

• One candidate was a 21 year old who posted tweets as a teenager that resurfaced. They had content containing comments where she told a tweeter who she felt was a racist to, “go blow your brains out you waste of sperm.” In another she made a comment on her hair cut and said she looked “like a flipping lesbian.”
• In another incident, the candidate was forced out after he was identified as a man known as the UniCaller in prank YouTube videos from about 6 years ago. They showed him pretending to orgasm while on the phone with a female customer service representative and mocking people with mental disabilities.
• A third one was a service technician caught on hidden camera on an investigative TV show from 2012. It showed him peeing into a coffee cup before dumping the contents into the sink and rinsing it out.  Now this one was not really social media but it has made its way there now.

All of these instances are prime reminders to everyone that the Internet is forever. It can come back and change your life, and bite you in the A$$!

Some people blame social media, but really social media is simply a tool that allows people to express themselves. It was their choice and decision to express themselves in the manner they did, social media was simply the venue by which they shared their ‘comments’ or actions.  No one forced them to act the way they did – in two cases they were part of the decision to put it online, in one it was a part of a hidden show, but it was still his choice to do what he did.

Is Social Media ruining our lives? Taking over?

Now I love social media… it helps people connect to old friends online, make new ones, stay in touch and can make the world a smaller place. But there are people who argue it is an evil tool that is ruining the world and will be the demise of our society by changing how we interact with others. It can also be a crutch that allows people to avoid real life and to speak their mind without thinking about the repercussions. There are so many positives and negatives…

But like any ‘tool’ that can be considered evil, it really comes down to how people choose to use it. People make those decisions… not the tools.

No matter what you think of “how people should view your social media content” they will make their own conclusions as to how they view and interpret what you post online. And it WILL reflect on you.  The Internet really is forever!

• People think it is unfair for recruiters to check your Facebook or Twitter accounts to decide if you are a “good” person to hire … but they still may.
• People think it‘s not right that they get fired if they are found posting derogatory comments about their bosses or employer online, yet it happens.

The generation growing up now, doesn’t know what it is like to live without the world at your fingertips on your smartphone. The internet has changed how we interact as people, and how people socialize… but we need to teach our kids that there still is a need and a purpose to interact face to face with other people. To learn to speak well with others, to talk, to engage in small talk and not so small talk. We need one another and we need one another to be helpful, not hurtful, and not hiding behind the walls of a phone or a computer.

There are tons of examples you can look at similar to these three where the internet and social media have changed someone’s life forever. They should be viewed as lessons we all learn about how easily this online world can turn our real life world upside down.

If you follow the Golden Rule of Social Media and act online the way you would in real life and you will find Social Media can enhance your life not ruin it.

If you want a ready made content planner that helps you plan out an entire year of content, check out the Pepper It Marketing Content Planner. It will save you a ton of time and has over 500 posts you can copy and paste to use as your own.