Tweeting without thinking can lead to problems. If you are famous, know how much is required to be shared and assess the consequences, says Divya Kaushik
The word ‘selfie’ would have made little sense to most of us, had there not been those self-indulging, ‘exclusive for tweeple’ pictures posted at an unearthly hour by our favourite tinsel town stars. Those pictures, may be from a private dinner with family or pajama party with friends, would not be shared with the media but would be posted on social networking sites. A million likes would be appreciated and duly thanked. This obsession to share ‘something exclusive’ only grew on social networking sites. Question is do we need to expose ourselves so much or still reserve a bit of solitude for our own goodIJ
Post as much as you can handle
“I’m not arguing that this stuff shouldn’t exist. I’m saying that precisely because this stuff is so powerful, we should be careful and think about what we’re doing, instead of treating it like a lark, thinking if we post something at 2 am that no one will care,” Juan Enriquez, a Boston-based entrepreneur was reported as saying, mulling over the impact of social media. He added that “I believe that in modern life we’re not at all savvy about the long-term consequences of impulsive decisions.” He pointed to Andrea Benitez, the young Mexican woman who ran afoul of social media when she proudly and publicly wrote about getting her father to shut down a restaurant she considered didn’t treat her with enough deference. “Now she’s ‘lady Profeco,’ essentially lady Macbeth,” said Enriquez of the girl, who’s been roundly trashed within social media. “I’d like to think we’d be more tolerant, but often when things are exposed we clamp down and deem something unacceptable,” he added.
We should be aware of the limit of exposing our private lives on social networking sites. When our private lives become more public online, either we should be ready and tolerant to face the consequences, which at times can be too harsh, or we stay away from the lure of making our private lives a part of dining room discussions.
Beware of the consequences
There is a deep sorrow all around after Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor was found dead in a hotel. Even those who were snacking on her tweets in the last couple of days are commenting now that perhaps the social pressure the couple faced after the Twitter blame game was too much to handle for a wife, who was going through her treatment for lupus. “She was always open and upfront, but personal tweets that too about her husband’s life, whom she loved dearly, were not expected. It is still not clear what led her get this personal on a social media platform but probably she was unaware of the outcome. She might have done this as a sheer habit (she shared minute details about her day and life on her BlackBerry Messenger often) but she must not have thought that her tweets will be trending on Twitter and will add to her pressure,” said Sunanda’s close friend on the condition of anonymity.
IT expert Rakshit Tandon agrees that the phenomenon of celebrities exposing their private lives has gone beyond limits in the last few years. The reasons can be many. Those who are at the top have lonely lives. Too much to share. They find social media platform the only indulgence they can get into without bothering about their physical security. “Also we must not forget that celebrities live in a pressure to maintain a certain image in society. But if they feel they would not be able to handle the pressure or deal with problems if something controversial goes viral, they should better set their limits. We have examples of celebrities who have good presence on social media but their private lives are not discussed,” he commented. Sylvester Stallone avoids being active on social media. He found himself in hot water last year for criticising Bruce Willis on Twitter — after Bruce dropped out of his movie The Expendables 3 over a pay dispute — he now is “careful” about using social networking websites.
learn the etiquette
A Philadelphia judge ordered Mill, who is on probation after drug and gun convictions, to take a Twitter etiquette class after tweeting comments that roused some of his followers to threaten his probation officer. “People write without thinking through how what they’re writing might be received,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst. “They write when they are angry or upset, and they try to be funny in times of crisis when humour likely won’t be well received. The general advice is for folks, particularly celebrities, to remember that this is part of their personal brand which they’ve spent their lives creating and is likely the most valuable asset they own.” Some users simply make the mistake of tweeting when they’re drunk, angry or tired. Tweeting without thinking can lead to problems. “Self control is the key, you should decide how much is for the public as a fodder to get famous,” summed up Rakshit.