Keller @ Large: Avoiding Trouble On Social Media
BOSTON (CBS) - Is social media becoming less social? There's a trend toward new apps limiting the number of people who can see what you're posting.
And this may just be the beginning. WBZ's Jon Keller takes a closer look at how online pitfalls are changing the way we communicate.
It's become a staple of our daily news cycle, the story of people famous or unknown getting bitten by their own hand, the one that tweeted, shared on Facebook, or posted on YouTube material that left them targeted, humiliated, and in some cases, jobless.
Hardly a day goes by without someone, somewhere, running afoul of social media's lack of privacy and their own lack of discretion.
And when Donald Trump isn't ejecting reporters from his press conferences, he's busy defending yet another round of derogatory tweets about Fox anchor Megyn Kelly.
"She actually should be apologizing to me," Trump said.
"People are doing it all the time because they don't think, they don't critically look at what they're gonna share and they just click share," said social media expert Steve Garfield. He notes some people can handle the freedom and exposure of the web, and some cannot.
And as Curt Schilling can tell you, oversharing can't be easily erased.
"If people are afraid of saying the wrong thing or offending people, they need to pull back and be careful what they share, or take a sabbatical, get off social media," Garfield said.
In reaction to online pitfalls, there's a movement toward by-invitation-only social media, like Facebook rooms, or the app "Slack" that offers self-imposed privacy for the risk-averse.
"If you think something you're putting on the web is private because the site says everything here is private, it might not end up being private like Ashley Madison," Garfield said.
Garfield says he's careful not to share information that he hasn't independently verified, and he knows people who simply avoid social media like the plague for fear of damage to their business interests. The web allows everyone to be a reporter and commentator, but it also demands that everyone be their own best editor.
