The Dangers of Social Media in 2018 CIU111.3 #1

Being a creator in 2018 means that we have to find a way to stand out from millions of others online. It means hours of promoting and crafting for the smallest amount of recognition, and an even smaller gain of loyal followers. Even with consistent and high quality content, only 25% of followers gained will be active followers.

Having and maintaining a social media presence can build or destroy one's career within the Creative Industry. A page on one of the many social platforms that we have access to today can allow for a creator update their followers, gain new followers, establish and build upon their branding, to collaborate and communicate with other creators and more.

(https://www.adlibbing.org/2018/02/12/4-lessons-from-top-social-media-publishers/)

Something interesting about having a social media presence to represent yourself within your respective industry is the fact that making one wrong post, or interacting with someone in the wrong way can ruin your reputation as a creator. It can even be something that you may have posted in the past, years ago and that can be found and brought back within a matter of seconds thanks to the large databases used by these platforms that store our posts and tweets almost indefinitely unless we delete them. (https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-long-do-posts-stay-on-facebook)

It could've been a silly inside joke that you may have made with your friends, or a post created about a subject that has now been twisted into something that is deemed as horribly offensive. It's crazy that people now have to be so cautious about what they post, when less than a decade ago one of the main reasons people had these profiles WAS to offend each other. 

An example of someone who has taken a huge fall in their career due to posts or interactions made in the past was film director James Gunn. Gunn was fired from Disney and removed as the director of the third volume of the hit sci-fi Guardians of the Galaxy. The posts were made years ago and Gunn has since apologised and expanded on why he made them. 

(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44906019)

He states that he viewed and branded himself as a provocateur, and that making such outrageously offensive jokes were just part of his humour and at the time, no one had really taken offence to it the way they have now that the tweets in question have resurfaced.

I believe it was unfair for Gunn to have been punished for these tweets. When they were posted, it was still socially acceptable to make such offensive jokes and most celebrities have likely made similar posts in the past without the same consequences that Gunn had to face. It was fair that he had to apologise for what he had said, but the need to fire such a talent director was uncalled for, especially if other celebrities with bigger followings are allowed to get away with much worse without punishment.

An example of this is Australian celebrity and radio personality, Kyle Sandilands and the scandals surrounding the comments he has made on his radio show, The Kyle and Jackie-O Show. The show has reportedly "...been plagued by scandal in it's eight year history, mainly due to a number of tasteless stunts and insensitive comments from Kyle Sandilands." Some of these stunts and comments consist of insulting Australian police, strapping 14 year-old girls to lie detectors and having something go wrong, and being intoxicated at multiple work functions.

You'd think after all of that, Sandilands would've been fired. But the most he was punished with was a simple suspension with a vaguely written apology after being called out on national TV. (https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/reverse-vile-kyle-says-sorry-in-open-letter-20111209-1on6m.html)

Although I don’t agree with how carefully we, as creators, have to tread so to not offend anyone online, I understand that creating a brand and an image that can accurately represent what we do and what we create is such an important part of our industry careers and without it, we would be putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage compared to everyone else.

References:

• https://medium.com/self-directed-practitioners/week-6-social-media-and-your-career-21ec52b2b003

• https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-long-do-posts-stay-on-facebook

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44906019

• https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/five-of-the-most-controversial-moments-from-2day-fms-kyle-and-jackie-o-radio-show/news-story/3a248c8a51a5c4fbfb4a5687e587fa27

• https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/reverse-vile-kyle-says-sorry-in-open-letter-20111209-1on6m.html