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Twitter: What Is It Good For?

Absolutely nothing, sing it again now huh!! (less of that now, let’s be serious)

So, if you’ve been following current events recently, the name Paris Brown should ring a bell or two – if it doesn’t, then you should look into it. 17 year old Paris, appointed out of 164 applicants for a £15,000 a year role as a Youth PCC, has had to forfeit it for her apparent ‘sexually-charged, lewd and immoral‘ tweets from her younger days.

Personally, I am not here to discuss her conundrum, remorseful or other, but moreover to address this social phenomenon that a majority of young people aren’t fully aware of. I’m an avid twit; I tweet sporadically and often numerously, at times it involves my personal life and at times not. I also get the pleasure of reading other people’s tweets, so far I follow about 200+ people but what really confounds me is how most tend not to progressively think of the perception from the outside.

Lets face it, Twitter or any other social mediums act as a bubble, a place of refuge to speak as we wish, gather like-minded fellows and share experiences. These are the positives, the negatives however, occur once we cross the grander scale of things. By then, there is no going back. Data footprints, hello?

Let us put the use of colloquialism aside and talk about content – if you are tweeting without thinking, it’s like drinking and driving, sooner or later you will hurt individuals and will need to justify yourself to a higher body. In Paris’ case, it was at the extent of the law and unfortunately, at the cost of a fantastic opportunity.

Before I joined Twitter, I thought to myself, the less people I followed the more I can keep my opinions secreted within my ‘circle’. Sounds logical doesn’t it? This isn’t how LIFE works unfortunately; we are all human beings, we get angry, sad, we share elation, we are sarcastic, ironic, pessimistic etc. Often the best way to convey ourselves is by sharing and receiving feedback, so we tweet, we put up wall statuses and so forth.

The difference occurs when your ‘opinions’ is perceived as being racist, sexist, anti-semitic, homophobic or anything deemed as being offensive.

I don’t want to drone on because I too dislike preachy people, but if you ever want a chance at being successful in life, take a proverbial leaf out of Paris’ book. Employers and Higher Bodies look at Twitter and other social networking sites nowadays more often than you think and your data footprint can be collated to sum you up.

Often, this isn’t the person you are in real life.

So I guess what I am trying to say is give yourself a chance; before sending that tweet, THINK.

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