(ANTI)SOCIAL MEDIA
GOOD, BAD OR DOWNRIGHT UGLY?…….
Rather than being a place where people discuss world news, social media platforms have found themselves becoming the news following events of the last couple of weeks. The “BBC Presenter” furore and spurious attempts to name the person involved led to numerous (predictably) false allegations on Twitter in particular. Prior to that the launch of Mark Zuckerberg’s new platform “Threads” has created headlines all over the world.
Both issues highlight social media’s positive and negative sides. So is Social Media good or bad for society and individuals?
Looking at the bad first, the “BBC Presenter” issue and the febrile atmosphere around naming names without any supporting evidence must have had a huge impact on a number of innocent parties and their families. I’ve never subscribed to the “no smoke without fire” approach and can’t understand the joy some people get from doing it. No-one should have to deal with what happened last weekend where several well known BBC employees had to take the unusual step of publicly denying any involvement in the scandal. Mud tends to stick though and some careers will have been tarnished by association. Those who posted lies could find themselves on the wrong end of a lawsuit as a result.
Everyone has, and is entitled to, an opinion though and clearly some need no invitation to share theirs but it should always be done respectfully and if offence is accidentally caused then an apology should sort the problem out. Entering and prolonging an online spat is just plain nonsense. But the keyboard warriors who hide anonymously behind their fake profiles feel empowered to push the boundaries of decent behaviour. I’ve always followed the principle of never posting anything I wouldn’t say in person, and I feel that goes for all of my contacts on various platforms. In all honesty I’m likely to get thumped by some of my childhood friends if I upset them !! So the disrespect and “entitlement” is a real issue and it feels as though too many people get away with posting racist or misogynistic filth. As Cat Stevens said “Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware”
On the good side, the launch of Meta’s latest platform has caused something of a stir. A sister platform to Instagram, “Threads” launched last week and 10 million people (myself included) signed up on the first day. By the end of the week that number had risen to 100 million ! Zuckerberg’s empire of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp already had a combined user base of about 3.6 billion users! This means that on average half the world uses at least one of these apps! I was a late adopter of social media, only joining as recently as four years ago but quickly saw that Threads was another platform for me to showcase my work, especially as it’s not constrained by Twitter’s ridiculous image crop algorithm. I’m hoping that my images reach a new audience and that they like what I share. Zuckerberg’s timing looks perfect as Twitter appears to have been self-destructing in recent months. Limited tweets, the removal of no-fee account protection, and problems with posting have all caused huge disenchantment with Elon Musk’s newly acquired baby. I’m not convinced Threads is a Twitter killer but it’s a great alternative. For me, the huge sign up and migration shows that people want a platform where they can safely discuss subjects without fear of an avalanche of abuse. Let’s be honest, despite tech giants promising to regulate abuse there’s still far too much of it on Twitter. I’m sure the trolls will eventually migrate to Threads but for now it seems a pretty nice place!
So yes you need a thick skin on social media sometimes but remember - what goes on your socials stays on your socials. There’s been quite few careers ruined by historic posts and it’s common practice for prospective employers to browse applicants’ socials prior to selection. As I’ve said, I have self-imposed rules the stand me in good stead and go back to before my retirement when the principle was a simple as to never send the boss a snotty e-mail when you’ve had too many sherries !
As a photographer trying to promote my business I see more positives than negatives. The positives for me are great feedback for my images from lots of lovely folks and being able to stay in touch with lifelong friends. Priceless. As for the negatives,I don’t read the trash anymore now than when I bought a daily newspaper, so I’m not exposed to a lot of the bad stuff. I occasionally get pointless negative comments on some of my posts but I don’t engage (however much I’m tempted…..).