Social Media Slip-Ups
By Lynne Bell
Social media slip-ups are fast becoming the rule rather than the exception during election season anywhere.
Recently, in the run-up to Saskatchewan's provincial election, NDP leader Cam Broten removed candidates from his campaign for “inappropriate” social media posts that were “offensive” (in varying degrees) to women, men with manners, the fine folks of Swift Current and-oh dear-even the Premier's mother.
However, the real kicker has to be a comment posted by one former political hopeful who put a two-word phrase that is so objectionable, I'm hesitant to even repeat it. But for the sake of reader clarity and full disclosure, here goes: this fellow put the words “stupid” and “farmers” together in the same sentence, without a word to separate them---in Saskatchewan!
This alone might be an indication that the poor guy might be in the wrong line of work (or province!), but before I get too judgemental, I can't help but think a little “There but for the grace of God go I...” might be in order.
Even though my presence on social media resembles a great insomnia cure, I can certainly relate to foot-in-mouth syndrome. #AskAnyone...And I think that most of us have said things in haste that are-at the very least-cringe-making. And I think most of us have made an ill-judged remark we wish we could take back seconds after we've uttered it. (Kind of like that moment when you close the car door, realizing your keys are still in the ignition...).
Part of the problem is that there's a permanance to the written word that just doesn't seem to apply to things we say out loud in the presence of real human beings. Social media may give its users the perception of intimacy, but in reality, anything posted on social media has the potential to reach far beyond what the writer may expect.
As leader of the NDP, Cam Broten addressed each case of social media slippage in his party individually, saying in one statement: “I don't think anyone wants this campaign to spiral down into a thing where it's trawling through Facebook and Twitter accounts and finding every example of a bad joke or an off-colour statement,” but also affirming his “zero-tolerance” for sexually inappropriate and violent posts concerning women.
Broten's right on both counts. Posts that are violent, racist and/or misogynistic are as offensive on social media as they are as if they're uttered out loud. At best, they show extremely poor judgement and at worst, they show aspects of someone's worldview that renders them unfit for public office.
But if less-offensive (well, let's call them merely dumb) social media posts are viewed without a sense of perspective and proportion, the examination of important election issues can be derailed by a witch-hunt via Facebook and Twitter.
And that might be the biggest slip-up of all.
You determine your fate on social media
By Kelly Running
In the world you always have to watch what you say, but this has been magnified in the age of technology. You make a comment on social media and just like that you’ve created a fury of backlash. Sure, you can delete the comment, but it might not really be gone as nothing on the internet is gone forever, especially when someone has the capabilities to take a screenshot and share it.
In Saskatchewan this is becoming even more evident as the provincial political race heats up. Usually if some random person makes a comment it is just seen by their friends, and oftentimes friends agree with the person posting. However, when it comes to running for public office, your actions and what you say become scrutinized by those you’re looking to represent.
As a regular person you’re told that whatever you put up on social media is out there for anyone to find. For this reason, an employer might look you up and this could affect whether they hire you or not. Additionally, a company may not like what you’ve posted and depending on their policy may be able to terminate your employment because your actions represent that company as you’re an employee.
Although the world is not simply seen in black and white, there are grey areas, it becomes glaringly evident that even these grey areas can radicalize people looking at your comments.
I’ve seen memes online that point to the need of a lock on your phone for when you’ve been drinking so you don’t post something stupid. The meme is in jest, but at the same time it points out the biggest thing about the internet: there is no filter other than yourself and if you don’t think about what you say before you say it there could be repercussions to the nth degree.
So before posting anything I’ve read that you’re supposed to ask yourself a few questions… Would you say it in person to your boss or at work? Did you question whether you should post it? If the answer to these questions is that you wouldn’t say it in a professional setting and that you second guessed yourself before posting it, you probably shouldn’t put it up.
Yes, you can change your privacy settings, but are your Facebook “friends,” all people you could say anything to or is someone going to take offense to what you say? Would they take a screen shot of it and share it with others? Private isn’t always private these days and it’s a tough thing for people to always understand that.
It’s ultimately your decision of how you want to be portrayed on social media. Recently there was a girl who set up an Instagram account. It followed her “life” of moving to a big city, breaking up with her long term boyfriend, falling into drugs, getting plastic surgery, becoming self destructive, but owning up to her decisions by apologizing, recovering, and later finding a new boyfriend.
It was all fake, the girl is an artist and the entire Instagram account was a performance, a work of art in the age of technology. Although the life of the girl she portrayed was made up, this work of art is an example of how you choose what people see of you on social media and how they perceive you as a person.
And this is made even more evident in the current Saskatchewan political landscape with candidates resigning and being dropped by their party because of comments they made on social media.
