Thursday, October 7, 2010

Aspiring Advice: Mind What You Post

Almost didn't make the deadline today. Phew!

I may very well be singing to the choir with this post, but in light of the awesome movie The Social Network, there's something that ought to be elaborated about its message. Now that social networking is a major part of our lives, with Facebook and blogs and whatnot, we have an outlet that allows us to express ourselves, keep tabs on old and new friends and other networking ventures. The problem is, like any new and cool tool, it can be used against us when overindulged, misused, or abused. Be mindful of what you post on the Internet.

Why do I suggest this? As aspiring authors, you and I have the benefit of participating on networking or blogging sites without garnering very much attention (which is something we'd like to fix, right?), and without thinking, you might rant about something or say terrible things about someone or start an argument. If you happen to get published, people will look into you more, and look you up. People may try to dig up something about you that you have long since forgotten. Social networking sites and blogs has the means to keep track of your posts, right down to a time and date. If someone wants to incriminate you, they can, unless you provide them with nothing to work with. Now, if you're willing to deal with the consequences of what you post, that's fine by me, just be careful, especially if you are using your personal identity (your actual name).

Now, some of you might have aliases (not real names), and that's cool, but that's not an excuse to be uncivil towards others. Bottom line, be mindful of what you post; text, pictures, videos, everything. They could burn you easily. The Internet is a big place, so play nice.

Want to add something to this? Please comment.
What do you use these nifty Internet tools for? 

I'm David, and my face looks like Tony Stark!


  1. Great advice. I found a great example of how *not* to act on a public forum two weeks ago. This particular woman is a self-published author and responded to a bad review rather unprofessionally:

    Read the main post, then ALL of the author's comments (Jacqueline Howett). Way to ruin a career before it's even started.

  2. Thanks, Nick.

    I was aware of that incident, albeit unfortunate. We're all prone to making mistakes, and it's better to learn from them than to pan them further.