Where there's a whim, there's a way

Social media has given the connected world a podium on which anyone with even so much as a keyboard and the tenuous ability to spell can practise their freedom of speech.

At face value, this seems like a wonderful inheritance of the age in which we live - but history and human nature show that it's also a gift that, placed in the wrong hands at the wrong time, can have embarrassing and even ruinous consequences.

While the social media globe encompasses more individual sites than I care to count, let's take - for the sake of ease - two of the key ones: the world's biggest social network, Facebook, and its micro-blogging counterpart, Twitter. Both are free services, both allowing instant updates.

With over a billion Facebook users and 500 million people signed up to Twitter, I think it's fair to say that anything posted on either of these sites will reach someone, somewhere.

There are ample accounts of people getting themselves into trouble by taking advantage of these free, ubiquitous online sites. Just off the top of my head I can think of an FHM model who took a sledgehammer to her career when she tweeted a racist remark; a sports reporter who was suspended after posting an insensitive tweet alluding to a tragic fatality at a rock concert; and a prominent (and plucky) Hawks spokesperson who made light of prison rape - also consequently suspended. Incidentally, not one of these tweets was over 20 words in length. Yip, that's all it takes.

Further afield there was the case, a couple of months ago, of a US woman who expressed her displeasure with Barack Obama's re-election, on Facebook, incorporating a racist slur and the word "assassination". She was summarily fired.

Sure, you could argue that these public figures (in the preceding examples) - as with all South Africans - have the right to freedom of speech, but the raw fact is that the entities they represent naturally want to safeguard their reputation, however capitalistic it may seem to censor employees or associated individuals. And besides, I suspect a mob of judgmental, pitchfork-wielding folk probably speak louder than a humble apology.

The point is more one of thinking before you type, before you tweet - and bridling yourself to a degree, at least when it comes to the delicate and derogatory.

It could happen to any one of us non-public figure types as well - whether due to a temporary lapse in judgment or a permanent lack of discretion. More than likely, it has happened to most of us already. I have been kept reasonably (but not totally) safeguarded by my sporadic Twitter behaviour and a Facebook profile that only a mother could like (thanks, mom).

If you want to vent about your unresponsive boyfriend, use your BFF, not your social media account.

Human nature dictates that we are not always consistent. We have this visceral tendency to give in to our whims sometimes when the moment grabs us - whether it is spurred by anger, revenge, ego or the age-old social lubricant that is alcohol. I, for one, have a severe case of fluctuating moods, coupled with fluctuating self-control - and the two don't always work together for my own good, if you know what I mean.

It must always be borne in mind that it only takes an instant to throw away your name, a friendship/relationship or career, but it is no mean feat to salvage it. A bad decision today makes for a great story tomorrow - usually a great story about you, accompanied by behind-the-back sniggers.

Another unfortunate fact is that when it comes to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, nothing - repeat, nothing - goes undocumented. And a swift couple of clicks to delete a reckless post amounts to nothing when someone is on the right site at the right time. It only really takes one sighting and the six degrees of separation phenomenon. Actually, thanks to social media - it's now more like four degrees.

People will remember. They are about as quick to forget as they are to forgive. Just yesterday, news Web site Salon reported on a new study that shows people remember posts on Facebook way better than they do excerpts from books.

Researchers from the University of Warwick and the University of California found participants' memory for posts on the social media site was about one-and-a-half times greater than their memory for sentences from books.

So Facebook's "Edit or Remove" facility is really as good as redundant.

Twentieth century US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt left us with these wise words: "With freedom comes responsibility." By all means, freely bear your mind and your heart online, if you can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would be comfortable with your post being read or spread at any time, by anyone it may reach. But I think we'd all do well to make use of a filter from time to time.

If you want to vent about your unresponsive boyfriend, use your BFF, not your social media account. If you feel the need to complain about your job and liken your boss to Kim Jong-il, do it offline (and out of earshot); and if you decide to bunk work, reserve your delight and venue for a postcard or something.

It's pretty simple. Before you go and post something in a moment of anger or excitement - or based on what you may think is a spark of comedic genius - try this five-step preventative plan: Gather yourself. Count to 10. Wait. Rethink. Log out.