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In the age of cancel culture and having recruiters do deep dives into your digital past, the act of completing an audit on your own social media account should be more common than it already is.
If Bianca Schoombee had just done a simple search of her Twitter handle and some keywords and deleted any tweets she no longer agrees with, she probably would have still been in the running to become a finalist in the Miss South Africa competition.
While an argument has been made that tweets and other social media posts published three to four years ago should not be viewed through the lens of what is acceptable today, we can all agree that some things – like racism – have long been unacceptable and cannot continue to be ignored.
People are fed up and they want to see people being held accountable. They want to see people suffering sanctions for things that are socially unacceptable but not necessarily illegal.
So, no matter who you are, what you’re doing now or what you plan to do in future, here are five reasons to audit your social media (before someone else does):
Gone are the days when one can either argue or feign ignorance. With a cellphone and an internet connection, you now have more information at the tip of your hands than you have ever had.
Conversations about what is right and wrong and why is happening in a democratic way on a daily basis.
There is no way that in the year of our Lord, 2020, you still had no idea that tweeting or saying the n-word as a white person is something that people would find offensive or that being fatphobic and tweeting derogatory things about fat people is something that you could get away with.
“Notwithstanding the serious crimes we’ve seen unfold on the internet; the social media law landscape is still untethered and lacks credibility. That though, doesn’t mean you can post whatever you want online,” adds digital expert Wendy Nyoni.
RELATED: The danger in defending, but not addressing racism
It has been said that in life, change is the only constant. So we, as people who exist in the age of social media, should be cognisant that we change and are capable of changing our minds upon being presented with new information.
Society and culture also undergo their own changes so one should regularly be striving to get with the program. If not, you can simply suffer the consequences of getting left behind when society pushes for you to suffer the consequences of your actions.
You can no longer argue that what you did was okay 25, 10 or even 3 years ago. There’s a reason society does away with things no longer deemed acceptable.
Additionally, the old you can hurt the new you, as it almost did with US rapper Doja Cat.
According to Nyoni, social media value fluctuates like financial markets.
“When bad PR or distasteful opinion attached to you or a brand you represent is exposed, you can expect the social media value to plummet with little to no indication of recovery.”
“There isn’t a single PR professional in the world that can stop a social media outburst or go back in time to delete content before it lands a person in hot water. That should tell you how powerful social media is,” she adds.
Social media law specialist, speaker and co-author of ‘Don’t Film Yourself Having Sex’ Emma Sadlier has a rule of thumb for determining what you should or should not say online and her rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t put it on a billboard along with your full name and/or a picture of yourself, then you shouldn’t post it on social media.
Nyoni adds a reminder to always consider that when you are on social media, you are your own brand and PR manager.
“To some, it may sound simple, but to many – being cautious with what you post online sounds like an unpaid job with no leave. If you feel the latter, then simply don’t engage or get off the social part of the interwebs entirely.”
It goes without saying that it’s not “just social media”.
What is posted on social media can have some real-life consequences. From jail time, court-mandated fines and gag orders to having the offer for that job you’ve been dreaming about retracted – anything is possible when the people who do not like what you post on social media put their minds to making sure you feel the impact of what you have said or done.
Additionally, any company worth its weight in gold will always do a thorough background check before ever even hiring you.
According to senior recruitment consultant Itumeleng Tsosane, your social media posts predict how you will behave in the workplace.
“In this day and age culture fit is becoming a big thing. I know of a candidate that was employed because he shared the same interests as the hiring manager. Another thing is if the prospective candidate will be a good brand ambassador, no one wants to employ someone who discriminates against certain groups or minorities,” said Tsosane.
“It predicts behaviour in the workplace. So, if you see someone always boozing, it’s most likely they will come to work in a not-so-normal state on the Monday thereafter. It also gives you a better understanding of the candidate, it shows you a side that they would not normally show in the actual interview,” she added.
Which brings me to my next point…
Although this is one of the most difficult concepts to define in absolute terms, cancel culture is real and it seems it is here to stay.
What started out as a form of public shaming of both individuals and larger entities has evolved into a means of attaining a fleeting feeling of justice through the systemic means of ensuring that anyone who missteps on social media is sanctioned and this vengeance is enacted not only by a court of one’s peers but the court of public opinion as well.
In the case of an individual, anyone with enough bloodlust and time on their hands looks into a user’s background and amass a wealth of information to use against them once they offend the masses. Information such as who their family members are, where they work, what opportunities they may have coming their way.
The people who then find and distribute this information can do anything from calling their job or school and asking them to act against the offender to calling family members’ jobs to get at the offender.
In terms of public figures and companies, there is often a call for withdrawal of one’s support both financially and otherwise as a means of hitting them where it hurts. The most recent examples fo this were the calls for social media users to delete their Superbalist accounts after a series of racially tone-deaf missteps from the retailer.
A lot can be said in criticism of cancel culture. Is it ethical? Is it right? Is it effective? Who are the arbiters of cancel culture?
So instead of arguing the merits of cancel culture with online trolls, rather focus your energy on making sure its principles aren’t applied to your life, because things could change quicker than rapper K.O. says “what’s going on with these amateurs over the internet posting some messages, next thing you know your career is over, ntwana, over some characters.”
And if not, at least live by the advice shared by Nyoni which is a) “do not violate anyone” and b) “always remember that, despite your privacy settings, all your social media posts are public to the internet. We live in the age of screen-grabbing, recording and hacked accounts after all.”
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