Think about this as it pertains to tweeting, posting, and blogging. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you.” (Now save it for the end of this post)
Think back 5, 10, 15 years ago… about how much has changed in the technology and social media worlds. Rob Martin, principal and managing director at MM2 Public relations has witnessed these changes first-hand. The experience for public relations and marketing has shifted to where the experience is the primary goal. “As a marketer, I think it’s neat, but personally, I think the privacy invasion is weird,” Martin revealed to my CCPA class this past Wednesday.
Social media has become the go-to method of marketers and public relations experts because it is easy and effective. Unlike many other public relations directors, Mr. Martin believes the new use of many social media outlets are over the top and at times, an invasion of privacy. I applaud Mr. Martin’s honesty because I feel the same way. I feel it is inappropriate when people Tweet or Blog about things that are irrelevant to anything that should be public knowledge. So many people feel the need to share details about their lives that completely take away the significance of privacy and personal space and knowledge.
Mr. Martin admitted that “I’m old school; I don’t see how it applies to me on a personal level- I just want to see what everyone else is saying.” I agree. My generation has taken the bull by the horns with this whole social media epidemic. I use the word epidemic because I think the new outbreak of social media usage has eliminated the barrier between our private and public lives. The whole concept of “nothing personal, it’s only business,” has been wiped away by the urgency to tweet, post, and blog about everything in our lives. Our personal lives are no longer personal, they have become a public form of entertainment and we have invited hundreds and thousands of people to know the who, what, when why, and where pertaining to almost everything we do.
“It’s a shift for the generation of how people consume media,” Mr. Martin noted when he discussed the outbreak of social media and how our generation uses it as a never-ending need to consume media. If it’s out there, our generation wants it, quick, easy, and now. We watch our favorite TV shows online, we learn about the devastation in Japan through apps on our iPads, and we stay connected to all of this while we are sitting in our finance classes learning about stocks and bonds. As the times change, social media will continue to grow and I am sure people will continue to blog, tweet and post about what they eat for breakfast. Mr. Martin and I will probably never tweet saying we are “Team Emily” on The Bachelor or that we are “Rock Chalk All the Way!” But that’s ok. We don’t all have to be social media addicts. As long as some of you are to entertain us, that’s just fine with me.
Just remember, it is ok to have some things in your life that remain private. Personal social media accounts and professional/job related social media accounts should be separate. Someday, (hopefully!) we will all work for companies that spend thousands of dollars to maintain reputations that they do not want blemished by the new kids post or tweet about private company matters. So, for those of you that get the urge to tweet, post, or blog anytime soon, just remember, you DO have the right to remain silent!
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