I am going to cover 2 main areas in this post,
1. What are the facts!
2. Are you safe behind your keyboard?
So this infographics by hashmeta.com gives us a clear picture of what the current Social media enviroment in singapore! (Click on it to view it in full)
It gives us a very informative view on the high usage of social media by singaporeans and how widespread the use has increased in just over the past few years! The usage of social media has increased at an alarming rate and that has caused a rise of very crucial issues such as cyber bullying.
There is a broad spectrum of cyber bullying that ranges from casual bad remarks to death threats on social media platforms. This term has emerged as “keyboard warriors” which as Urban Dictionary defines as “A Person who express motions through the text-based medium of the internet, usually in the form of aggressive writing that the Keyboard Warrior would not be able to give form to in real life.”
To address my second point, Are you safe behind your keyboard? There is still a lot of discussion online to what are the ethics of the use and the weight of words being said on social media platforms.
There have been a few cases where words being said on Social media has led to people losing their jobs and also being charged in court.
Here are 10 examples of people who lost their jobs over certain things they mentioned on their social media platforms which was mentioned by CNN,
An example i would like to highlight would be one of those being fired was a taco bell employee who took a photo of himself licking a pile of tacos that would eventually be served to customers. He failed to understand the implications of broadcasting his actions did not only showcase his personal ethics but also the personal branding of the company and had implications of customers being afraid to eat at taco bell.
The second example would be the case on Caroline Criado-Perez where she received tweets from two citizens who did not realise that they would be taken to court for sending tweets that not only were abusive but also led to caroline being afraid for her personal safety.
This shows that many of those who speak their minds towards people or organisations do not realise that there are certain ethics that even the internet is governed by and I personally believe you should not assume the implications are different for actions on the net as compared to what you would do person to someone.
References:
Anon, 10 people who learned social media can get you fired – CNN.com. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/06/living/buzzfeed-social-media-fired/ [Accessed December 5, 2014a].
Anon, Guidelines on prosecuting cases involving communications sent via social media. Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/a_to_c/communications_sent_via_social_media/ [Accessed December 5, 2014b].
Anon, Social Media in Singapore 2014 [Infographic] | Social Media Statistics. Available at: http://www.hashmeta.com/social-media-singapore-infographic/ [Accessed December 5, 2014c].
Anon, Twitter abuse: easy on the messenger | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/24/twitter-abuse-abusive-tweets-editorial?CMP=twt_gu [Accessed December 5, 2014d].
Anon, Two face jail over Twitter abuse of banknote campaigner | Technology | The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/24/two-face-jail-twitter-abuse [Accessed December 5, 2014e].
Anon, Urban Dictionary: Keyboard Warrior. Available at: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Keyboard+Warrior [Accessed December 5, 2014f].
Bullas, J., 22 Social Media Facts and Statistics You Should Know in 2014 – Jeffbullas’s Blog. Available at: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/01/17/20-social-media-facts-and-statistics-you-should-know-in-2014/ [Accessed December 5, 2014].
McKinney, K. & Ross, K., How does social media affect employee ethics? – Kansas City Business Journal. Available at: http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/print-edition/2012/03/23/how-does-social-media-affect-employee.html?page=all [Accessed December 5, 2014].
Photo credits:
http://newalbanydefense.com/2013/12/19/why-dealing-with-keyboard-warriors-can-be-a-good-thing/
The thoughts of Mr Ebra 
Hi, Ebrahim
The fact is more and more people are using social media, and more issues arise. With or without social media, we need to vent our emotions out. I guess cyber bullying is growing as technology is developing. I think social media is stand between website and IM, which is very easy to use and anyone can access to it.
I think when people post things behind their keyboard, they need to consider the audience. There is probably no one is watching you posting, but you don’t need others always keeping an eye on you. Taco bell example let me consider about maybe there should have some policies regulate it. It’s very superficial to behave like that and broadcast it.
I agree with you the implications can indifferent whether online or offline. Do you have any suggestions how companies can do to help a healthier communication platform?
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Hi Ebrahim!
I absolutely agree with you that the increase in usage of social media platforms has also caused many issues especially cyber bullying.
Employers need to realize that no matter how they try to private their accounts, it can still be known to others and causing them real problems like losing their job and also ruining the reputation of their company. And it might even be a trouble for them to look for future jobs as they already have a bad record.
I’ve found some suggestions for companies to counter this problem – educating their employees and how they can filter their social media accounts (be it personal or work). Do hop over to my blog to read some of the factors I felt is important!
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