When the Secret Service Goes After Social Media Misfits

Social media is not for everyone and the events of the last few days are a classic example of why this statement is true. Over the weekend a poll was released on Facebook that questioned the public’s desire to have someone kill President Obama. Yes, as amazing as it is, this story is true. Facebook responded quickly and shutdown both the poll and the third party application used to generate it.

While some may dismiss this as just pure silliness, it is not. It is not only a very sad display of social media usage; it is a reminder that your personal activity on the Internet has repercussions. Sometimes, social media has very long-term repercussions.

Now add in the athletes’ recent problems with their tweets on Twitter and the many cases of authorities arresting MySpace and YouTube posters for their content and you will quickly see a trend emerging. Social media adoption is rising, although the knowledge and practice of social responsibility are not.

Hopefully, the multitude of recent mishaps on social media sites will resonate with the user community and the masses will take note. You may be logging into Facebook in the privacy of your own home, but your content and your postings are very much in the public domain and governed by the laws of United States.