Small changes in what we think, do and say can have a profound impact on future events. By way of one not so small example, had Hitler not gone down the path of politics following the defeat of Germany in the First World War, or had the blast that took away his testicle at the Battle of the Somme done a little more substantial damage, or the surgeons that saved him not tried so hard, there would have been no Second World War and no Holocaust.Why is Hilary Clinton under investigation? Because of the EWUCS: "Emails with unintended consequences" https://t.co/GuGygDAdAm pic.twitter.com/dK4kJTUa9t— Dr Mike Sutton (@Criminotweet) October 31, 2016
This 'choose the right vs wrong path' conundrum has led quite a few people into trouble as social media has become increasingly part of our working lives. We are often only as good as our last mistakes, one wrong tweet in the disembodied and seemingly 'unreal' world of internet facilitated social media and our idea of a 'joke' can lead to dismissal from the workplace and even a visit from some arresting characters from your friendly police force, accompanied by all kinds of unwanted social networking inside the criminal justice system trouble.
Several years ago when it was found that inappropriate use of email was the single largest cause of dismissal form the workplace, Mark Griffiths and I wrote about the phenomenon of 'Emails with Unintended Consequences' (EWUCS) . Today this same problem has manifested in the Twitter With Unintended Consequences (TWUC).
We can expect stupid twucs to cross the line in acceptable humour many times in the future (did you see what I just did there?)
By way of just one among a multitude of stupid 'twucs' getting themselves into the troubled hot waters of Twitter disasters, does anyone remember what happened when the wrong kind of snow grounded aircraft at my local Robin Hood East Midlands Airport in the UK? The young twucer who complained via a Tweet had to appeal a sentence in the criminal courts to have his bad sense of humor decriminalized . Other tweets have led to suicide , dismissal from the police service , Members of Parliament being fired by the British Prime Minister, dismissal from a senior academic pos t, Twitter has even been implicated in murder.
The Huffington Post has a neat slide show of similar examples. But the list of those fired for twucing appears countless. Just Google 'employee fired for tweet ' to see what I mean.
Despite all of its problems, social media - including Twitter - is here to stay and everyone from US Presidents to British Chief Constable's to University academics is at it while on the national or employer payroll.
Whilst Twitter might unhelpfully lead any one of us into deep water, it is equally useful for alighting upon opportunities to avert potential PR disasters through identifying potentially beneficial collaborative opportunities. For example, some time ago I shared just such a moment in the Global Village of 'Twittervile' with my new best friend the Chief Constable of Gloucester Police and one of her officers .
My concern for police forces everywhere, which have taken to twittering about crime in the front line - whist on the front line - is that they will miss a crime during screen time.
To me, it seems like a safe bet to predict that sometime in 2015 a police service somewhere in the world will face a major PR disaster when an officer fails to engage with an offender right under their nose because their nose was too close to the screen upon which they were busy twittering about some other crime.
Jane Jacobs' famous rhetoric that the widespread take-up of TV watching led to less eyes on the street and a corresponding rise in crime from the 1950s onward has its obvious analogue in the 21st century fall of crime that matches perfectly, with an inverse correlation, the increased use of social media, gaming and refinement in TV home entertainment . So how might we similarly seek to exploit the new technology that will not be going away so that its potential for harm is counterbalanced by social benefits?
How about police services using Googleglass so that they can use social media whilst keeping their eyes on the street? Niv Calderon believes this is the future .
To my mind, it seems that there is definitely a great opportunity here for Google to fund an evaluation of their product in just such a setting. After all, none of us would want to learn the hard way - say in 2016 - that police officers cannot multitask safely with the latest technology.
Although I am available for following on Twitter , if you do follow then please don't be a stupid twuc! You know it's not worth it.
Stay safe in cyberspace you pioneering cybernauts. Remember: ENGAGE BRAIN BEFORE TWEET and think TWUCK!
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