Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Race to Nowhere: Keep it Sealed


We are now in the ‘Social Community Age’ where everything we do has the capability of going live to everybody that we know. Websites like Facebook and Twitter have ushered in a “Show and Tell” generation that knows no age, gender or ethnic background limits. And this generation of millions are spilling the beans and crying over spilled milk before an expanding audience.

What should this mean to you?

When people know your business, they will tell your business. A simple retweet (Twitter reference) of you exposing your soul to your friends, may turn into 20 retweets; and now, your business is everywhere without your consent. Let’s say that you just came back from an amazing trip and you wanted to keep it to yourself. However, the friend you went on the trip with just tagged photographs of that trip on Facebook for all of your friends to critique; your business is everywhere without your consent.

Once your business is in the hands of someone that has no attachments or obligations to it, they will freely release this information. And if you so happen to have mutual friends, this person just might spread your business, believing that your mutual friend already knows. These are the occurrences that could prove destructive to friendships and relationships alike. Think about it…

What would happen if your significant other comes to you about information that should’ve been confidential, yet word got back to them. You didn’t think that your good friend would tell their cousin your amazing story; then their cousin would release this information to their significant other; this person then tells her sister; who then talks to your significant other about it. Now you are in an argument stemming from your need to tell all. Yes, this issue would fall under ‘Trust’. And once a person feels like they can’t trust you with sensitive information, you will be closed off. What a way to destroy a relationship...

We have practically signed over our privacy to the digital world, telling people where we are, who we are with and what we are doing. We are sharing up-to-the-minute photographs and video without a second thought. Your photographs are just a right click away from being lifted, and your Youtube videos are just a shared link away from being syndicated. What ever happened to confidentiality?

No matter how bad you want to tell all, think about how this leak of the mouth would effect those around you. Honestly, in a society that promotes the distribution of all information at all times, the only suggestion that I could give is to keep it sealed. Be trustworthy...

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