“Social
Media is no longer an esoteric environment; it has now become the heart of the
lives of individuals.”
The above
quote suggests that many modern individuals no longer use social media to
reflect a small amount of their daily lives, but rather choose to live through
their social media accounts with a persona. Being yourself is very important
and being your best self is just as vital. But what exactly should the
relationship between our online presence and real life be?
In the
techno-thriller, The Circle a young
woman named Mae Holland manages to attain the role of an employee at a
well-known Tech company called The Circle, due to being good friends with an
influential employee, Annie Allerton.
The
relationship between your “real life within the physical world” and your
“digital pseudo life within the digital world” should be simple. One should
share some interests with the world, as this can be helpful to others. An
example of this is when Mae had not yet set up her online profile and her
collages told her that she was not helping herself by doing this, as many love
seeing what their co-workers have as interests, and many circlers engage with
each other. Mae’s fellow co-worker expressed his disconcert for her not stating
that she enjoys kayaking on the profile, as he believes her behaviour is
somewhat antisocial, as he would have enjoyed kayaking with her. This tells us
that social media can be helpful, as it can bring people together.
However, one should not share too much with
the world. According to (Citroën, 2017), one should not post news about
others online without their consent, as this may cause damage to their
reputation or make an negative impact on their online and real life presence.
In the movie, after sharing a photograph of a chandelier that Mercer made that
hung in her parent’s house, others began accusing him of cruelty towards
animals and she shared the photograph without his consent.
Sharing
on social media can also help by bringing people closer. The quote at the very
beginning spoke of how social media has become the “heart of individuals”. This
may not be a bad thing because in the movie, Mae became brighter and interacted
more with her co-workers when she became more active on social media. More
people at the circle seemed to know her by name and she was greeted by a cheery
voice hollering “Hi Mae!” as she walked by. Social media may impact your real
life within the physical world in a good way, by rewarding you with more real
life interactions.
Your
online life in the digital world should however, be kept somewhat separate from
your personal life also because sharing too much can be detrimental to your
reputation and the reputation of others, according (Citroën, 2017). An
example of this is when Mae later uses a feature called SeeChange to find
Mercer. Mercer, does not want to be involved in such public broadcasts, and
becomes overwhelm with fear and after being followed by circlers with cameras
aimed at him, he eventually crashes and dies. If Mae had not broadcasted him
live on the internet without his consent, this would not have happened and this
is why your real life in the physical world should not contain you constantly
sharing news about others without their consent.
In the
digital space, there should be a balance between our social and professional
persona. How do we know where to draw the line and what to post?
The
balance between your social and professional persona online should be that your
co-workers should not know too much about your personal life, as some factors
should be kept professional. According to (Citroën, 2017), one should
not share images of others without their consent. Mae shared content with
Mercer without his consent and this was not appropriate for the circle account.
The balance
between your social and professional persona is simple. One should only engage
with co-workers on appropriate platforms. According to (Business Essentials,
2017), LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter
are good social media accounts to share with your colleagues. Having your
colleagues on these platforms can be helpful, as they will be able to share
work-related information with you. In the movie, Mae Holland was determined to
connect with her colleagues on the circler media-sharing website, and this was
appropriate because it was work related, and her intension at first was to
network with others.
One
should keep their social life private and according to (Business
Essentials,2017),to ensure balance between your social and professional
persona, it is important that you do not add all of your co-workers to your
Facebook friend list, as Facebook is where one shares quite personal
information.
The issue
of authenticity and truth on social media refers to how one should only post
facts online. According to (Citroën, 2017), one of the social media
taboos is posting news that has not been confirmed. Posting such content is
likely to ensure that you will become persona non grata, as fake news is news
that is a waste of time.
Social
media is a very powerful tool and has the ability to impact your personal
career in a negative or positive way. Social media should be used wisely in the
workplace, and everyone working in any industry should be aware of the plethora
of negative attention that can result from inappropriate posts. Mae Holland’s
story may be a fictional one, but it is representative of what so many
individuals experience daily.
