Media in the New Millennium

Posted by Lauren Preston (@laurenpreston)

To continue on the stream of Twitter talk, I wanted to explore the idea of Twitter becoming the new “stalking tool” (as I like to call it.) When MySpace and Facebook grew in popularity, I’d hear and see stories pop up all the time about people using these sites to meet new people, to find out the name of the cute girl sitting in their class, to keeping an eye out on their own friends and significant others, etc.

As Facebook and MySpace grew even bigger employers started looking at prospective employees’ profiles, teachers befriended students and even moms and dads were keeping a close eye on their children. When this started happening frequently, the issue of privacy and what type of and how much information should be public quickly became an issue. Now, most people (at least most smart people) are a little bit more protective about their social networking transparency and are a bit more aware about what they reveal to the general public. While I used to accept friend requests from people I barely knew, if at all, now I’m very selective about who I invite into my Facebook circle.

That hasn’t always been the case with Twitter, however. My life is much more transparent on Twitter, even though I probably don’t even know half the people that follow me. I never thought much of it either until recently.  But there a quite a few reasons why it is important to know who is following you and why.

Case in point. Just last week, I saw an article on Mashable recently that discussed a “Twitter robbery.” As it was said in the article, there is no evidence linking Twitter to the robbery itself, but it definitely brings up a great point about how much is too much to share on Twitter and the possible affects of revealing some more intimate information. Do you really want your 1,000+ followers to know your every move, where you are (or aren’t), etc.? Especially if you don’t even know who all of your followers are?

Since Twitter has also become a real-time venting machine for the frustrated, annoyed, pissed off people of the world, it also means taking a deep breath before you Tweet is that much more important. Since my boss, coworkers, clients, boyfriend, family and friends all have access to my Tweets, ranting in the moment may not do me the most good. There have been quite a few cases of people being fired from their jobs for things said in the moment on Twitter, people who have severely offended clients or coworkers, and people who have found themselves newly single. It just goes to show you must be careful about what you say on Twitter, because you may not know who is listening.

Since seeing more of these issues pop up, I’ve made it my mission to look at who is following my Tweets. There has been more than one occasion when I have had to use the ever-so-harsh “block” button. The next step is to start using private updates. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but it that may be the case someday. In the meantime, I’m still going to try to remain as transparent and as much myself as I can on Twitter – within the safety limits I’m comfortable with.

All in all, I think Twitter is still a great tool to meet new people and form some lasting relationships, but people should still proceed with caution. Be careful what you share on your social sites, and be aware of who is keeping tabs on you. Just like with Facebook and MySpace, Twitter will go through the usual growing pains and subsequent safety and privacy concerns – just be sure you stay ahead of the game!

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