It’s not Big Brother, It’s public and recorded
When I tell people we monitor conversations in social media the more idealistic ones scrunch up their face and give me the big brother look as in ‘Big Brother Is Watching’. The implication is that there is something unsavory about peering into people’s private thoughts…wait a minute. Social media that is not password protected is not private.
Let me repeat that:
Social media that is not password protected is not private.
When you post, Tweet, comment, write on a wall, etc. you are essentially standing on that proverbial soapbox in the park and shouting to a crowd with one big difference:
What you are saying is being recorded, preserved and, presumably, indexed for future reference.
This is a big differentiator from private correspondence like email or phone calls that require a warrant to be monitored and/or recorded (though this administration apparently thinks otherwise for those conversations too- another subject for another place).
Social media is social and, as such, not private. So if you’re saying something you don’t want to be reminded of forever don’t say it here and cry later.
There are no take-backs in social media.