In recent days, I haven’t been posting much on my blog, on Facebook or on Twitter. The reason for my silence is that I have been spending a lot of time debating what I should and shouldn’t share publicly. Part of creating a following is cultivating virtual friendships with people. In order to do that, you do some of the same things that you do in real life — build connections with others and share bits and pieces of yourself.
The problem, of course, is that anything you say or do online can come back to haunt you.
If you aren’t sure of the staying power of mistakes on the Internet, check out How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life. Here’s what happened after she posted her tweet:
Sacco’s Twitter feed had become a horror show. “In light of @Justine-Sacco disgusting racist tweet, I’m donating to @care today” and “How did @JustineSacco get a PR job?! Her level of racist ignorance belongs on Fox News. #AIDS can affect anyone!” and “I’m an IAC employee and I don’t want @JustineSacco doing any communications on our behalf ever again. Ever.” And then one from her employer, IAC, the corporate owner of The Daily Beast, OKCupid and Vimeo: “This is an outrageous, offensive comment. Employee in question currently unreachable on an intl flight.” The anger soon turned to excitement: “All I want for Christmas is to see @JustineSacco’s face when her plane lands and she checks her inbox/voicemail” and “Oh man, @JustineSacco is going to have the most painful phone-turning-on moment ever when her plane lands” and “We are about to watch this @JustineSacco bitch get fired. In REAL time. Before she even KNOWS she’s getting fired.”
And yes, Ms. Sacco lost her job.
Did she deserve it? I don’t know. While it’s true that we have to live the consequences of our actions, people make mistakes. We say and do dumb things. Each and every one of us has said something stupid or insensitive at one point and lived to regret it.
The problem is, in the age of social media, stupid mistakes don’t die. While memory fades, the Internet can remember forever. If you go to Google and search for Justine Sacco, the story of her ill-conceived tweet is everywhere, even though the incident occurred two years ago.
In Ms. Sacco’s case, the fury has died down somewhat. She found another job. Her story has now become something of a cautionary tale about public shaming, mob mentality, and the power the Internet has to ruin people’s lives.
Stories like hers give me pause because I’ve had a taste of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of online vitriol. I mentioned the consequences of that experience in my post More on Bad Reviews. As for why it happened to me, it was because of a now-defunct blog I used to run. I posted something with which a number of my readers disagreed, and a few scary people decided to make it personal. They turned what should have remained an online difference of opinion into real life stalking and harassment.
I’d like my blog to be something more than just a list of announcements and shameless self-promotion. While I suppose that might work if I already had a massive following, I’m not there yet. Sure, I have a growing group of dedicated fans, but I’d like to have more. In order to build that, I need to connect with people.
To connect, I have to share.
And that, right now, is the challenge. What can and should I share, without having to worry about the consequences? While I wouldn’t mind my posts or tweets going viral in a positive way, I absolutely don’t want to walk in Ms. Sacco’s shoes. While I dream of being a full-time writer one day, I still need a regular source of income outside of my writing. At the moment, I have a good job that I enjoy. I don’t want to lose it because I said or did something stupid online.