Unexpected Consequences of Social Media: When Will People Get It?

When it rains, it pours. On Tuesday, Muhammad Saleem of Pronet Advertising profiled the ill effects of an executive saying a bit too much on the micro-blogging service Twitter.

In this unfiltered ‘stream of conscious’ admission, Rubel simply observes that he gets a free subscription to PC Magazine but that he tosses it away without reading it. The problem is, Edelman Public Relations, the company he works for, helps set up meetings between companies and the magazine.

Needless to say, that admission didn’t go over well. Continuing the trend of online stupidity, yesterday, a student at my alma mater was arrested for posting a bomb threat on the social site, Facebook.

The president of a fraternity at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is facing a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct after police were told a bomb threat against the school was posted on the student’s Facebook page. – from Belleville.com

According to local news reports, the student, Andrew J Stone, stated his status as “Going to bomb the school since it is clear we can not coexist.” A fellow student reported the threat to police, and Stone was arrested. He now faces possible expulsion from the university on top of his legal troubles.

As social sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, etc continue to grow in popularity events of this nature are becoming more and more frequent. YouTube clips have led to arrests, countless people have been fired specifically due to content on their personal blogs, and Rubel’s twitter slip will certainly not be the last.

For crying out loud people, before you blog, twit, video, post, comment, or text message… THINK. If there’s anyone in the world you wouldn’t want reading what you’re about to write, don’t type it out. Trust me on this one ;)