Is it time to go to moderated social media?

Seth Rollins is the latest "celebrity hack" victim

Seth Rollins is the latest “celebrity hack” victim

In the digital age we live in, there hasn’t be any shortage of controversy on any form of social media, including most recently the “leak” of private photographs from the Seth Rollins collection.  However, it hasn’t just been the leak of private (often explicit) images that have become a problem for both professional wrestlers and celebrities alike.  More often than not, intoxicated or emotionally fueled messages make their way public, creating a media firestorm that is often damaging and embarrassing.

In a time where the world is literally connected, 24/7 to everything that is posted online, is it time that we move to an “approved” social media?  A filter between what is submitted to be posted, and what actually makes its way public, especially when it comes to celebrity accounts with millions of followers both young and old?

If a celebrity post was submitted to an anonymous third party “approval” service, it would be easy to prevent things like this from becoming so public.  Sure, accounts can still be hacked, but posts would still have to be moderated and approved before making their way public, allowing the moderation team to filter through a potential hack, or stop an embarrassing intoxicated and damaging post from making its way to the court of public opinion. Having a second set of anonymous eyeballs on those posts before they hit the general public would certainly be of benefit. Whether this is a private service offered by an outside company, or something Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/etc offers the users who drive the most traffic to their social media outlets, I think it’s time this becomes a serious consideration.

Seth Rollins is on a career high at the moment.  It’s hard to point to anybody on the regular, full-time roster that feels as fresh and as important to the company’s future than him.  Although the details are sparse, it appears as though his fiancee “hacked” his account, and made these pictures public in effort to embarrass him.  In doing so, she (literally) exposed millions of eyeballs to a very personal issue between the two of them, including many children.  A moderation team could have caught that, and prevented it from happening.  Could the photos have been released via other means?  Sure, but those means likely wouldn’t have had the number of young eyeballs attached to the WWE/Twitter verified account of a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar.

Just some food for thought on a Tuesday morning.  I welcome your feedback on the topic, as well.  Give me a shout at [email protected]!