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Lately via work and other areas, I'm being reminded to be very careful what I post on social media sites and over-exposure. At work we were given a sizable package on what not to post on social media site or what information not put online. And to limit our exposure online. (After reading it, I was relieved I'd never set up a twitter account or a personal blog under my own name. If I do - it will be about living gluten free/paoleo and my writing - and even that can be too much exposure. Was also relieved that if you google me, you won't find me on the net, just a lot of people with my name. It also made me extremely happy that I'm not in the top 100 live journals and not well-known online. I'm still fairly anonymous. This is a good thing.)
At any rate...here's an interesting and somewhat disturbing story about an up and coming young female sci-fi writer, whose previous actions on various social media sites have come back to bite her in the proverbial ass : Report on Damage Done BY One Individual Under Several Names. Disturbing as it is, it is also a tale that I think we can all learn from.
The internet is like crack for people like myself. Writers, particularly frustrated writers. I'm horribly addicted to blogging in livejournal. Prior to lj, I was addicted to email, and prior to email, letter writing. And I have come thisclose to deleting the blog and jumping off. In part because it can bring out the snarky bitch in me. It's so easy to rant, rave, bash, snark - on this thing. Something annoys me at work, at home, on the telly, in a book, etc - and here I am. And hey, I'm hiding behind another name. No one in my real life will know. And if I lock it and filter, I can rant about whomever I like, right? right?
But...think for a moment how much we reveal about ourselves on these sites? We post pictures of our dogs, our families, our kids, our houses, our artwork, reviews, interests, and our writing. Often we reveal more about ourselves here to strangers than we do to people we talk to daily, face to face. Which is ironic. We take cute quizzes revealing all sorts of private information. Exposing ourselves to all sorts of crazy people lurking in the cracks, hunting a target. Millions read our posts - most of whom we don't even know are reading. I don't know who reads my posts most of the time, unless they respond. And I've run into a few trolls and crazies...it's impossible to avoid if you've been posting for any length of time publicly.
We think, oh, we're posting under a pseudonyme...no one will figure out who we are.
Or this is friends locked. Or I deleted it after the fact. I'm safe. I can write whatever I please about anything or anyone I please without repercussions - in other words, I can let the crazy out. I can vent. I can scream. Let off steam. No one will care. It won't hurt anyone. Right? Yeah, right.
But here's the thing - unless you deleted it within seconds of posting - it's possible someone copied it and kept it. (I found this out the hard way.) Or if it is in response to someone's post - they have it in their email caddy. (Again, discovered this the hard way.) Plus, it's not hard to track down IPO addresses. (As most former board monitors already know.) And you never know who your friends' friends are. So even if you think you are bashing something or someone safely under a private or friends locked post? It could get hacked and get out there. And even though you think you are well-hidden under that false name - Winterfox or Shadowpuppet or Sockpuppet, it's not that hard for someone to link those names, find the pattern and figure out who you really are. The internet is not as anonymous or safe as you think. And if you are posting at work or on a work computer - yes, they can find what you said about it and access it.
So what the hey, you decide to post a lot of negative reviews and hate threads on Good Reads, Twitter, or various fan boards going after other writers, actors, bloggers etc with a pitchfork. I saw one gal on Good Reads post a nasty hate thread on John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. Then years later you publish a book - and get a lot of attention. Maybe nominated for an award. And someone decides to research you and your past social media writing/blogging history for maybe a quick bio...and look what they've uncovered. There goes your award and possibly your writing career down the tubes. What you posted previously and most likely forgot about has come back to haunt you. You've lost friends. You've been blackballed. The arts is all about self-promotion and image and selling. Tarnish that image - and people won't buy your product.
More than one celebrity/politician has learned this lesson the hard way. Ashton Kushner had over 1 million followers - only to cancel his account and hastily repair his public image, when he tweeted something...which did not go over well. What you write online can be misconstrued. Be careful. If it looks like it will be misinterpreted in a negative way or will hurt someone else - don't post it. And never post in hate (actually, this sort of goes for everything - never do anything out of hate). (Easier said than done, this I know.) It will only come back to bite you in the end. The universe is funny that way.
At any rate...here's an interesting and somewhat disturbing story about an up and coming young female sci-fi writer, whose previous actions on various social media sites have come back to bite her in the proverbial ass : Report on Damage Done BY One Individual Under Several Names. Disturbing as it is, it is also a tale that I think we can all learn from.
The internet is like crack for people like myself. Writers, particularly frustrated writers. I'm horribly addicted to blogging in livejournal. Prior to lj, I was addicted to email, and prior to email, letter writing. And I have come thisclose to deleting the blog and jumping off. In part because it can bring out the snarky bitch in me. It's so easy to rant, rave, bash, snark - on this thing. Something annoys me at work, at home, on the telly, in a book, etc - and here I am. And hey, I'm hiding behind another name. No one in my real life will know. And if I lock it and filter, I can rant about whomever I like, right? right?
But...think for a moment how much we reveal about ourselves on these sites? We post pictures of our dogs, our families, our kids, our houses, our artwork, reviews, interests, and our writing. Often we reveal more about ourselves here to strangers than we do to people we talk to daily, face to face. Which is ironic. We take cute quizzes revealing all sorts of private information. Exposing ourselves to all sorts of crazy people lurking in the cracks, hunting a target. Millions read our posts - most of whom we don't even know are reading. I don't know who reads my posts most of the time, unless they respond. And I've run into a few trolls and crazies...it's impossible to avoid if you've been posting for any length of time publicly.
We think, oh, we're posting under a pseudonyme...no one will figure out who we are.
Or this is friends locked. Or I deleted it after the fact. I'm safe. I can write whatever I please about anything or anyone I please without repercussions - in other words, I can let the crazy out. I can vent. I can scream. Let off steam. No one will care. It won't hurt anyone. Right? Yeah, right.
But here's the thing - unless you deleted it within seconds of posting - it's possible someone copied it and kept it. (I found this out the hard way.) Or if it is in response to someone's post - they have it in their email caddy. (Again, discovered this the hard way.) Plus, it's not hard to track down IPO addresses. (As most former board monitors already know.) And you never know who your friends' friends are. So even if you think you are bashing something or someone safely under a private or friends locked post? It could get hacked and get out there. And even though you think you are well-hidden under that false name - Winterfox or Shadowpuppet or Sockpuppet, it's not that hard for someone to link those names, find the pattern and figure out who you really are. The internet is not as anonymous or safe as you think. And if you are posting at work or on a work computer - yes, they can find what you said about it and access it.
So what the hey, you decide to post a lot of negative reviews and hate threads on Good Reads, Twitter, or various fan boards going after other writers, actors, bloggers etc with a pitchfork. I saw one gal on Good Reads post a nasty hate thread on John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. Then years later you publish a book - and get a lot of attention. Maybe nominated for an award. And someone decides to research you and your past social media writing/blogging history for maybe a quick bio...and look what they've uncovered. There goes your award and possibly your writing career down the tubes. What you posted previously and most likely forgot about has come back to haunt you. You've lost friends. You've been blackballed. The arts is all about self-promotion and image and selling. Tarnish that image - and people won't buy your product.
More than one celebrity/politician has learned this lesson the hard way. Ashton Kushner had over 1 million followers - only to cancel his account and hastily repair his public image, when he tweeted something...which did not go over well. What you write online can be misconstrued. Be careful. If it looks like it will be misinterpreted in a negative way or will hurt someone else - don't post it. And never post in hate (actually, this sort of goes for everything - never do anything out of hate). (Easier said than done, this I know.) It will only come back to bite you in the end. The universe is funny that way.