How To Say Anything You Want Online
Fail. FAIL!!!
Wasn’t it only a few short weeks ago when this “key influencer” guy made one of the worst Twitter posts ever? And offended his multimillion dollar client (Fedex) in the process? (The fact that he committed that blunder while he was on his way to coach Fedex on how to use online social media is just priceless. You can’t make up stuff like this!)
And of course, now we have the Cisco Fatty, a.k.a.: How To Tweet Your Way Out of a Job. Poor girl tweeted that she hated the fatty (that is, well-paid) Cisco job she just got offered for. Somebody from Cisco saw it. And the internet rejoices!
To me, it’s plain and simple. Both of these people screwed up big time. But what’s interesting in both cases is that there are always people who are outraged that these days we cannot say anything we want online.
“Can’t we be honest about what we think anymore? I think it reflects badly on <insert the offended company here>”
“He tweeted it during his private time, in his own account!”
“So what if she says she hates the job? Do we have to be delirious of every job offer we get?”
Duh.
Can’t we make this simple? How about this: think whatever the heck you want.
But if it’s something that you won’t say in front of your client/friends/the government/whoever might be listening, then either:
- Make damn sure that you’re saying it anonymously (which is VERY HARD–perfect anonymity is pretty much impossible), or, much better,
- DO NOT SAY IT AT ALL.
The internet is NOT a place for you to let it all hang out and be honest about your true feelings. If you want to complain about your boss, your clients, etc., go and complain to your trusted friends. Verbally.
Do not, EVER, publish anything online that you don’t want to be traced back to you. Think long term. What you think is OK to say when you’re in your early 20s may come back to haunt you when you’re vying for that corner office 15 years later.
(That goes to YOU too, you female acquaintance who keeps publishing your marital woes in Facebook and complains constantly about your boss in your very public blog!)
(Image courtesy of playerx @ flickr.)