WARNING: TWITTER, FACEBOOK ET AL CAN DESTROY YOUR LIFE

The world is witnessing an unprecedented “freedom” since the emergence of the internet, particularly as a result of the revolution brought about by Facebook and twitter among others. Today freedom of expression has never been so free. Days have gone when the public was at the mercy of the opinion editors at the newspapers and magazines to be heard. Now at the press of the keyboard and a click of a mouse, one can not only speak to his countrymen, but the world at large. Citizen journalism, so-called, is booming as the thin line between a professional journalist and the citizen who can talk to the world in seconds of events happening becomes ever more blurred. In Nigeria where hitherto only the high and mighty are heard through the newspapers and magazines, ordinary folks can be heard now. The government owned television and radio stations no longer have monopoly of dissemination of information. With a handset every resident in any part of the country is a potential purveyor of news and opinion and of course hate and stereotype. The newly discovered freedom by the ordinary folks are being abused daily because the folks have failed to realise that freedom comes with responsibility. If you want to gauge how much Nigerians hated each other across the divides read what they are posting on twitter and Facebook among others. And that is only half the story as I fear that the country will be set on fire in 2015 by purveyors of faith and ethnic hates in the social media. Perhaps the folks on the Facebook and twitter are unaware of the fact that the hate they post can be used against them at International Criminal Court ( ICC). Today many Rwandan journalists are in jail because of what they broadcasted or allowed to be aired on radio and televisions at the height of the 1994 genocide. Back home a certain civil servant from Bauchi State is having his days in court because he alleged that state funds was used in the wedding ceremonies of the son of the state governor. I know that a lot of folks are sympathetic to the civil servant as is always the case when there is a fight between a David(civil servant) and a Goliath(Governor). But it brought to the fore the dangers which are often overlooked when people who are unmindful of the pitfalls inherent in freedom of expression post all manners of things on social media. I love this expression “ Freedom of expression is good, but once you express your views, you may no longer be free.”

There are many who are constantly using libellous languages on the Facebook in the name of freedom of speech possibly out of ignorant but the law unfortunately is not a respecter of ignorance. If you are a regular commentator on state or national issues and you are not a lawyer or a journalist you need a training on the law of libel before you put yourself in trouble. You should also be careful what you are sharing or retwitting on Facebook and twitter respectively. Twitter, Facebook et al can put you in trouble. In United States and Europe people have lost their jobs because of what they “innocently” shared on Facebook or twitter. That has not been happening in Nigeria, but it would soon begin to happen, as the potential for Facebook and twitter to make or mar organisation’s image becomes very obvious to managers of corporate image.

When the news break recently that the Jonathan’s administration has allegedly awarded contract to an Israeli firm to monitor people’s email and postings on Facebook etc, I was shocked by so much ignorance exhibited by supposedly intelligent commentators banding their rights to freedom of expression as if they are not aware that all over the world what is on the newspapers and magazines etc, including the  Facebook, twitter and others would be of interest to intelligence agencies and spies all over the world. Take Julian Assange’s so-called revelations on Wikileaks; they were mainly information gathered from newspapers in Nigeria which foreign Ambassadors put together and sent to their countries as the “true” happenings in Nigeria. When I looked at Wikileaks cables of the events in Nigeria under Abacha and  the information the American embassy relayed to their country, it was as if I was going through pages of Tell and TheNews magazine of that era. Those who were kicking because President Jonathan allegedly wanted to monitor the internet in a bid to curtail the activities of insurgents and their sympathisers have remained silent now that it has emerged that the United States government has been sieving through all the postings on twitter, Facebook, emails etc to dictate potential terrorists and harbingers of hate against America. America incidentally is not the only country doing this; the UK, Russia, China and all other serious countries are doing it despite the protests from some quarters that it was a violation of privacy. Perhaps the emails are too private for governments to be snooping around it, but we are living in dangerous times when other people’s lives meant nothing for terrorists and governments have a responsibility to secure lives of the law abiding citizens. But for those who post in the social media and spew hate and libel to think that “it’s a free world”, they better do a rethink. The Facebook and twitter among others were conceived and developed by Americans, yet the Americans are wary of its negative consequences for those who take the freedom it offers for granted.

Recently, President Barack Obama warned American teenagers of the dangers of putting too much personal information on Internet social networking sites, saying it could come back to haunt them in later life when they started to seek employment. The presidential words of advice follow recent studies that suggested employers are increasingly turning to sites such as Facebook and MySpace to conduct background checks on job applicants.

A survey in June, 2009 by careerbuilder.com found that 45 per cent of employers used social network sites to research job candidates and that Facebook, which says it has 250 million users worldwide, was their site of choice.

Some 35 per cent of the employers surveyed said they had found content on the sites that had influenced them to reject a candidate. Examples included inappropriate photographs, information about the applicants’ drinking or drug use, or bad mouthing of previous employers, co-workers or clients.