SNS no longer stands for a private place for individuals. Though individuals have freedom with updating and nurturing SNS content, the influence of content reaches out to many others. It’s not a surprising phenomenon that the majority of information and messages are supplied and spread out through SNS more than any form of newspapers or broadcastings.
You never know what others will talk behind you about the post you just wrote last night being drunk. In this world of SNS, are we supposed to be honest of ourselves? are we going to pay the price of being genuine of ourselves or how authentic shall we be in SNS?
I don’t cry even though I’m lonely. Instead I’m heading to SNS. Manager just told me to re-write the report that I had done staying awake all night long. My mind is about to explode that I wanted to post something on my feed. If so, others will comment on it and empathize with me. My hand is shaking with temper, but wait ‘yea,, the manager is my follower.’ Daisy, who works for an advertising consulting agency, takes a great caution with the use of her Instagram after friending her colleagues at work during the get-together dinner time of her team, that was totally unintended. You can’t simply reject the request of the colleagues that you will have to encounter every day.
I no longer post something that will create a negative impression of myself. I no longer post something that will be interpreted differently and has chances of bring about a misunderstanding. I have always tried only to post something that gives bright and happy vibes and a healthy impression of myself. In this era, SNS is even investigated and judged as a background check when you apply for a job. You can’t help but to feel like a celebrity managing your image. It’s the managers who would doubt the quality of my report submitted yesterday by seeing the post of myself partying last night.
According to the “Employees and SNS” that has surveyed over 1880 employees, more than half of 61.8% of the respondents said that they are currently friends with colleagues at work. When the respondents were asked how they perceive to be SNS friends with colleagues at work, 37.3% which is the highest response, said “negative”. It is an undeniable fact that when SNS accounts are exposed to and exchanged between individuals at work, the so-called image management is a must that individuals will constantly be conscious of how they might be perceived by others. Hence, the circumstantial evidence is that it is nearly impossible to be genuine of you in SNS.
Then why people can’t stay away from the world of SNS?
“As a human being, we all like to talk about ourselves. We innately want to get recognized as a valuable individual of the community and society. When the society is chaotic, the desire for the recognition gets magnified. Boosting ourselves is a form of communication with others.” This is the quote from Dr.Giulia who is a psychologist and a psychotherapist at the Milan Psychotherapy Center.
Riccardo Esposito, who is the copywriter, blogger, and an e web writer of the My Social Web also said that “human likes to convey the knowledge, thus communication with others is a must of the life. SNS is now the backbone of human communication as a function and a medium.” In addition, because we want instant recognition, we immediately upload or share what we just saw and feel. Psychologist Dr. Enrico Marie Geshee says, “At this time, people instantly believe that social media relieves their anxiety.”
If so, how do the SNS influencers, who have recently become the wannabe of many people, honestly use SNS?
Fitness instagrammer Richard says, “ I use SNS as seamlessly and authentically as possible.” “There are a lot of people who just love the lifestyle itself, so there is a better reaction of my followers to the simple and small pictures of my lifestyle. I’m more inclined to boldly show my daily life rather than the photos that look great or fancy. I’m just going to refrain from mentioning my family or close friends and uploading their photos. I’m just being honest about myself and things that belong to me. I do not care about negative comments as much as possible, but the more followers I get, the more I feel responsible for each posting. It’s not right to say that Instagram is a private place, particularly for someone who has a lot of followers. There is something I need to take care and bear of.
Some people have multiple accounts on SNS in order to have a freedom of their posts. Mr. C, who words as a freelance stylist, says he has three Instagram accounts. “I wanted to share my personal story with someone who is close to me, so I initially created an account and kept it private. However, due to the nature of my job, I met many people and it became common to exchange SNS accounts as much as contact numbers, which led me to create a new account for the public use. And the account actually functions as a portfolio to upload my work.
There are many people around me who use separate official and private accounts.” Twitter user D is a little different. “SNS is my excretion. I write my candid opinion on anything such as about politics, social phenomena, or entertainment. Sometimes I get too aggressive, but how about that? SNS is just SNS. it’s nice to share your opinion on an issue with an unspecified majority. I think I’m becoming rather more honest on the SNS. Oh, my twitter account is actually anonymous though.”
So, is it impossible to be perfectly honest in SNS?
“Exposing yourself to the SNS is something you have to accept the fact that others will see and evaluate you,” Dr.Rossi says. This means that if you have the courage to take it, you can use SNS frankly. It is completely easy to make the relationship in SNS, however when the relationship leads to reality, the weight of the initial casual SNS relationship becomes serious and tough. Therefore, in order to utilize social networking service to the maximum effectiveness, it is necessary to know about ‘SNS usage’ well.
Experts say that it is advised to stop and think for a while before posting on the SNS. Do not forget that posts on your personal account can be read by people you are not close with, or even people you are not familiar with. SNS is a private space, but also a platform where the sense of community is strong. If you post a message and people comment and agree, you may mistake yourself for being recognized. Do not overly expose your private and work life by falling into this sort of misunderstanding. You should be more careful if you are looking for a job. Do not forget that headhunters also loop up applicant information through profiles registered on major search engines or social networks. Things that you click on in the SNS may be used to analyse your political and social tendencies.
Experts also say that it is important to refrain from mocking anyone on the SNS. The picture of a friend I took together is so funny. When you upload this photo, it is obvious that people will leave a huge impression with many likes and comments. I want to screw someone, who made you angry today. up in the Instagram in a way that is sarcastic. However, it is definitely rude to post content that is uncomfortable and unpleasant to others.“You need to know that anyone, who does not care about others and says what they want, will eventually isolate themselves from the SNS world and reality,” says Dr.Rossi.
The dispute between ‘Carry’ Sarah Jessica Parker and ‘Samantha’ KimCatteral in the recent movie ‘Sex and the City’ might be familiar to you. When Kim Catterall’s younger brother died, Sarah Jessica Parker expressed her condolences to her through Instagram. Kim Catterall said, “Do not use my tragedy to pretend you are a good person. You are neither my family not my friend.” It might be certainly violent for someone to mention the bad things that happened to him/her on the open platform. Moreover, talking about the privacy of a person who does not want to know about his/her tragedy can only make him/her uncomfortable.
You do not have to worry about each one of the comments that you have to do to be able to tell your story without being hurt by the SNS. Do you have any comments or bad comments on your postings? so you feel shabby? Dr. Rossi advises that all information provided by the SNS should be taken from a distance and criticized. In the case of relationships built through SNS, no one can make sophisticated and accurate judgements about you.
As a result, in the huge wave of SNS, we can’t be perfectly honest and straightforward in the SNS. If you don’t want to get hurt or pose a discomfort to someone at least you should avoid posting without any thought. Even if your today is not as ordinary as you’d like to post something.