Do people’s social media posts have any impact on your impression of them?

One day, an undergraduate student in one of my youth programs at CSAAE posted an indecent picture of herself on FB. Because she is my friend on FB, I saw the picture. I downloaded the picture and sent it to her via WhatsApp and said: “Would you come to my office in such attire?” She said: “God forbid.” I told her that she just did. The respect I had for this girl dropped. Weeks later, she called to thank me for drawing her attention to the indecent photo. She said two other family members also called her and since then she has been posting responsibly. I later sent the girl away from the program, though not because of the post. I know a young man who posts dirty things on FB and talks trash. He also makes a lot of grammatical errors. I see his posts because he is my friend on FB. He just finished serving and has approached me to help him get a job in a company that my recommendation will give him the job instantly. Although this young man has quite some good skills in the area that he is seeking employment, but my FB impression of him is troubling to me. I don’t want to recommend an irresponsible young man to my friend who heads that company. What if he goes there to talk trash as he does on FB? Will he dress well to work? How about his grammar issues? What if my friend looks at his FB page as I do before I hire or accept people into any of my programs? Yesterday, a classmate called me just to catch up on stories. In the course of the discussion, a recent post by one of our contemporaries came up. My classmate, a highly accomplished and successful person said: “I respect that guy a lot, but I was disappointed at that post.” I thought I was the only one disappointed at the post. The post was not about indecent picture or stuffs like that. It was more of “washing one’s dirty linens outside.” Do people remember that their parents, children, bosses, lecturers, pastors, wives and husbands are their friends on FB. These are people you send friend requests as soon as you set up your FB account. But over time, you forget that they are your friends on FB and see all your posts. Remember the employee that took days off from work on health grounds and went to Florida for vacation. Apparently, he forgot he told lies to secure those days and kept posting his vacation pictures on FB. He also forgot that his boss was his friend on FB. He was fired on his first day of work after the vacation. Let us talk about this: Do people’s social media posts have any impact on your impression of them?

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About Our Founder
Father-Godswill-Agbagwa
Fr. Godswill Agbagwa

Godswill Uchenna Agbagwa is a Catholic priest and a social ethicist. He was born in Umueze Amaimo, a small village in Ikeduru LGA of Imo State to Mr. Charlyman Chikamnele Agbagwa and Mrs. Evelyn Chinyere Agbagwa of blessed memory.