Social media is going to be the making and the undoing of some people. Sadly, this is just a reality many of us have come to grasps with. However, the good news about this little tidbit is the fact that we get a say in what the outcome is. We alone get to decide if social media will be our undoing, or if it would push us to being our very best.
Social media is one of the best things technology has given to us, but then, this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come with risks of it’s own. Cars was also a great invention, the fact that it had accidents that took lives didn’t stop it from being useful. Also, the fact that planes crash doesn’t mean that people will never use them again. Social media can be viewed through those lens.
Over the weekend, I heard the story of an air hostess who was fired from her job because she filmed herself twerking in a plane while she was on uniform. Now, I don’t know what exactly the grounds for her termination was; it could be the simple fact that she was twerking, or it could also be that she was twerking in uniform and in a plane, which was a professional setting.
A few months back, a tweet went viral about a Human Resource Manager in a certain company who was interviewing some job applicants. Part of the requirement was for them to submit their social media handles. However, when going through some of the accounts, the H.R discovered that one of the applicants was a troll on Twitter who had once trolled him heavily in the past. Even to the point of hurling insults. Well, the guy didn’t get the job.
It’s not all bad though, there’s a popular automobile workshop in Owerri called Pamtech where they make sure to promote all their services on social media, and they use actual content creators. Ever since I started watching their videos, I’ve seen them make the creators into major figures in the league and now many of them are influencers.
Why am I saying all these? The truth is that there is no clear answer to the question that is posed today. I feel that it all boils down to what your job entails. Companies want nothing that will throw them in the wrong light, so if they go through your social media and see that you’re the kind of person who could make posts without thinking of the repercussions, then it could very well mean that you don’t get the job.
In this day and age, just the wrong tweet can be the difference between a drop in the price of shares and total bankruptcy. So, in my opinion, I feel that companies deserve to protect their interests just as much as individuals deserve to protect their privacy. However, there has to be a compromise. There should be a place where there would be an impasse. I should be able to post what I want without being scared of it coming back to bite me in the ass.
Social media is very important and I know a lot of people say that they shouldn’t be judged by the things they post on social media, but whether you like it or not, people have come to place a lot of meaning on social media and they will definitely judge you by the things you post. Whether you post them as cruise, or you’re very serious, people will take them as your opinion. And if a company decides that it doesn’t align with what they vision for their employees, it could cost you the employment.
So, cruise or not, be careful with what you post. There will always be a time of reckoning. And when it happens, you might not even know it!
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