New adapters might see as social media as an outlet where fake people can act important, but they have not discovered the reality of social media. If you post something on your Twitter account that isn't true or completely scandalous someone will catch you and call you out on it. Then you try to delete the post before more people can join the conversation and you have a Rashard Mendenhall situation on your hands.
Athletes aren't the only culprits; politicians like Anthony Weiner andChristopher Lee have been exposed for who they are because of social media. Married men should not be sending half naked pictures of themselves to younger women!
Businesses have also made their share of social media mistakes; whether made on their behave like the Chrysler and Duke Nukem Forever PR examples or made by their own staff likeKenneth Cole showed.
Brands can be exposed by other organizations via social media campaigns like the Nestle and Greenpeace conflict and the Brown Bailout: FedEx vs. UPS. President Obama's staff even tried to use Twitter to help their cause with the backfiring #Compromise campaign last month.
Almost every day there will be some sort of example of why social media is not to be taken lightly, and that it will expose you for who or what you truly are. Online communication outlets are gradually changing the way the world works and the way we do business.
What will the future of social media and social networking bring our society?