Be Careful What You Tweet

This article (caution: some language in this article is NSFW – reader discretion advised) at MediaStyle just goes to show you that you always, always, always need to be careful about what you do or say online.

In this case, a reporter had a meltdown with a source of his on Twitter. The entire “conversation” is at the link. And like I said, some of it ain’t pretty.

Can you believe it? In this era of data following you for years and years — not to mention old Facebook photos and blog posts causing all kinds of headaches for people — how could anyone do anything like this?

What’s worse is that while the reporter in question deleted his posts, they were still recorded by someone … and put online. Shock there.

This is a good lesson for anyone who does anything online. Always consider what you “do” — tweeting, Facebook posts, even e-mail — to be highly public and able to be read (and stored) by anyone out there. The “bite you in the butt later” part is implied there, but should be obvious.

For many readers of this blog, this is old advice. But evidently, some people still need to read this. (Not you, I’m sure.)

I have to admit: I really like the “Twitter Fight!” graphic at the top of the original story. Nicely done.

(Tip of the hat to @NicolePRexec for the heads up; which came from … Twitter, of course!)