Social Media Case Reflection 1

“…you’ve got to be careful what you post online. It can come back and bite you.” Chris Burton made this statement while being interviewed by the IndyStar. As I read through the article that they recently posted about a dialogue between a disgruntled customer and the restaurant manager on Facebook (if you haven’t read it, I would highly recommend giving it a try at http://www.indystar.com/story/life/food/2016/01/04/kilroys-goes-viral-after-response-angry-customer/78252026/. It is pretty mind blowing.) I couldn’t agree more. We have all been told throughout our lives to be careful what we post on the internet, you never know who will see it. This is just another example of this. I was shocked to read that the customer who made the initial comment deleted the post and her Facebook account, as if this would keep people from seeing it.

Facebook claims that their users have on average 338 friends. In an article posted at

http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/29/facebook-post-reach-16-friends/

it states that only about 12% of your friends actually see the things you are posting. So let’s say that we take 12% of that average 338 friends. That equals just about 41 of your friends that see any one of your given posts. That may seem like only a few people, but imagine if a few of your friends share what you have posted, so that 41 of their friends see it. Then a few of their friends share it, and their friends share it. Within a matter of moments your post can go from being seen by just those 41 people to thousand or even millions of people. I am sure this women was very upset about her evening spent at this restaurant, and had no idea that her post and the manager’s comment could go viral in a matter of moments. Unfortunately, once a post is public there is no way of fully getting it back. Sure, it can be deleted from your page or even your account can be shut down, but once it’s public, it is out of your hands.

Another situation of public scrutiny is displayed at

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/07/21/dallas-fire-rescue-worker-under-investigation-after-social-media-post/30489991/

This summer there was an intensive investigation after a firefighter made what appeared to be some racial comments on Facebook. The firefighter also deleted the post and comment from his page, but once again it was too late. The first article that I mentioned and this second article both discuss the fact the employers are often involved in these situations. So not only does this effect the person in a social, and emotional way, but can effect whether or not they are still employed. Social media is incredible and beneficial for the fact that it allows us to express thing we are feeling and keep in contact with people across the world. This can also be very harmful. As human beings we are often easily upset and quick to react. I am sure that neither of these individual had any idea of the ramifications that would follow their posts. They clearly felt very strongly about what they posted, but everyone that saw their posts, is free to have their own opinion.

Although these “nasty” Facebook messages have gone viral, there has been some good from this foul situation. According to

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/social/indiana-bar-customer-posts-insensitive-facebook-rant-about-heart-attack-victim-bars-manager

the daughter of the woman who suffered the heart attack on New Year’s Eve has started a GoFundMe account where people have donated over $14,000 to help pay for the woman’s medical bills. It is very interesting to me that not only are people so willing to critique and publicly humiliate someone, they are also quick to aid. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the simple fund account would have gone viral on its own. Without the negative attention that Holly Jones has received, I believe there would only have been a fraction of the funds raised. The changes of social media through sites such as Facebook, give us the opportunity to truly analyze people and the way we tick. Are people donating money to this fund because they truly care about the woman or is it to scrutinize Holly Jones even more? Is this a symbol of love or of “we will show you”? There is no way of tracking conversions about people’s intentions like we can “likes” and “shares.” It is very evident that a situation such as this would not have existed even fifteen years ago. Social Media has completely changed the way we communicate with one another, and truly made the world a smaller place, but is that always a good thing?