It’s always advisable to think before you speak, and since these days we communicate through social media channels, I suppose the wise thing would be to think before you post your Facebook (fb) status or tweet on Twitter.
I’m sure we’ve being guilty of a Twitter rampage or posted a crazy fb status update now and then, only to later read it and think OMG!, what have I done. In most cases we just quickly press delete to never speak of the post or tweet again.
And usually if you’re famous it’s hardly ever that easy to just delete and forget as your fans are watching and waiting on your every tweet and fb status whenever you log in. Classic case was when Jessica dos Santos pulled a mean girl act on Twitter, posting a racist rant, which incited angry responses to her comment, Jessica deleted the offending tweet. But it was too late; as she got dropped quickly from her sponsorship deals as fast as the racially insensitive tweet she posted costing her, her career as a model.
Or the misdemeanor of being embroiled in an all-out Twar (Twitter war) defending what you wrote whether about someone as talked about as you. In the case of Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula calling out Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema on his “hypocrisy”. We all know how that went; the gloves were off with a number of exchanges that included classic film references, with Mbalula being referred to as Mr Miyagi and Malema as Karate Kid.
So if you never want to be caught in such tricky situations try remember these two rules on social media etiquette when interacting onlinebe nice on the internet on whichever social media platform you choose to express yourself.
Also respect goes a long way just because you arecommunicating behind a computer rather than in person. It doesn’t give you free reign to act as you please. You still need to treat people properly.