Hurricane Teacher Posts To The Web

Last week's impromptu series (Twitter Can Kill, Careful With The Web & More Fodder...) on how one needs to be careful with what they post on the web has sparked a whole lot of reaction and some very interesting conversations over the last several days. I want thank each of you who took the time to comment on the BLOG, drop me an email or those who went the extra mile and tracked me down for an actual live chat. It's certainly been an interesting few days of stories, debate and discussion on what is obviously a very important issue.

A client of mine took the time to share with me an article that she felt specifically illustrated why posting just anything to the web can be dangerous. It seems that her neighbor, a local school teacher, felt compelled to share her adventures of riding out Hurricane Ike on her BLOG. Though I wasn't able to see the BLOG myself, the article that was written up by the local news station KHOU provides a pretty detailed description of what it contained.

Read the article by clicking here.

Though I don't choose to share my personal judgments of what should be the consequences of this young teacher, I do appreciate the Ripple Effect it will have within her community, on her co-workers and the kids she is paid to teach. Aside from the public outrage over the story as evidenced by the string of comments attached to the article, the personal and professional damage that this young lady has done to her reputation is incalculable.

Maybe she never intended her comments to be viewed by anyone other than a few friends who would relish in her stories of riding out the hurricane, who knows. What I do know is that the things that one puts out there on the web can ring a bell that reverberates for a long, long time. Even though you may be just sharing a harmless story or picture with a friend, it could be and likely will be, seen by others who don't understand nor take the time to care about how you intended it to look. They will just see what they see and make up their own minds and that my friends is where the web can prove very, very dangerous.

Remember you are always on stage. Too bad this young teacher wasn't taught that lesson sooner.

Ripple On!!!