Be careful what you post

GOING by social media usage, many Papua New Guineans like publicity.
Everything, from photographs of self, to the food on the table before us and everything else, is uploaded with hardly a thought given to who is actually watching and how such information might be interpreted or used.
We think of the personal friends and family members who are watching and who often respond with a compliment.
Hardly a thought passes through people’s heads about the very many people who also notice who might appreciate the free information you supply for darker motives.
This week, daughter of Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko posted a TikTok video of travelling with her father to London for the Coronation of King Charles.
The backlash to the video by Papua New Guineans on social media platforms should not be brushed under the carpet by authorities tasked with keeping public office holders accountable.
Unintended use can be made of personal information you put online which might turn around and bite you as it has in this instance.
Once the information is published, it is virtually impossible to call all of it back.
Even if a convincing case can be made to administrators of online mediums like Facebook or YouTube and a certain information were removed from the medium, somebody would have copied your personal data for their personal use.
That particular information is lost to you forever but be sure that it will appear in one form or another at some future date and it will not be for something complimentary or flattering.
In PNG, tribal conflicts flare up overnight out of the smallest slight.
Suddenly you, a member of the opposing tribe, post a sharp selfie of yourself and your family and detail your whereabouts down to the place and time and even the flight you are about to catch.
You have invited the enemy to pay you a visit when you least expect it.
Take another instance.
You take a group photograph and post it, not knowing that you are identifying a member of your group unwittingly to another group who might be looking for him or her for their own dark purposes.
You will never know how many unnecessary domestic fights occur because of social media posts.
Even on the level of just sharing a thought, what you might consider to be gems of wisdom might appear to others of far superior experience and schooling to be plain stupid.
You expose your class and grade and inexperience all by yourself to the wide world. And who is to blame?
There have been postings on social of a story taken by the main stream media on issues that has attracted some strong online criticism. Posters would express disappointment with the choice of words or of the person quoted and their opinions.
While those posters had the right to speak their mind, much of what they said are personal attack and name-calling aimed at the person who was only voicing his/her government’s/organisations official stand on the issue.
Government MPs and parliamentarians have been the target of such attacks, triggered simply by the posting of stories, pictures or other information alleging some kind of misconduct or alluding to improper behaviour.
Social media does not have that filter nor does it have heavy regulatory input by its administrators or users.
Issues that crop up or are the flavour of the month can attract hundreds of commentators leaving their thoughts and opinions on issues for hundreds if not thousands more to read and digest.
Many of these people tend to say things they would never dare do in person or in public.
That is what social media provides for the voiceless masses – a platform of anonymity and exposure.
Be careful what you post.