communicator which essentially means my
job is to help organizations and people
fight for the truth to help them deliver
the right message to the right people in
the right manner at the right time i’m
here today to talk about an important
topic not just for PR people and
communicators but for every single one
of us and that is how we risk our lives
online now because I’m a proponent of
open communication I want to be very
honest with you I have a confession to
make before we get started here which is
while I’m excited to be with you i’m
also very sad and i’m very frustrated
because many of us in this room are
going to decide within the next couple
of minutes that you don’t like what i’m
going to tell you and you don’t like
what we’re going to talk about and
you’re going to draw a conclusion about
me and you’re gonna say this guy he’s
old he’s out of touch yeah he may be
wearing jeans and sneakers but he
doesn’t understand he’s not a millennial
he doesn’t under he’s not connected with
this new modern world that we’re living
in forget about it and what’s going to
be the consequence well for some of us
our boyfriends or girlfriends are going
to dump us for some of us we’re not
going to get that job we were hoping to
get we’re going to end up getting
bullied online we’re going to embarrass
ourselves we’re going to get trolled
we’re going to face some really
unpleasant things now my hope is for the
vast majority of us the opposite will be
true and instead what we choose to do
online and how we present ourselves is
going to have lots of positive
consequences we’re going to find that
internship that leads to that ideal job
that puts us on the path to a career
that’s interesting and exciting and
lucrative and rewarding we’re going to
connect with like-minded people who
share our values online and we’re going
to perhaps even meet a life partner
someone we spend our lives with we’re
going to connect with friends we’re
going to find interesting things we’re
going to challenge ourselves
intellectually so we’ve got the carrot
and the stick
the good with the bad and it’s going to
happen to all of us why am I so sure
because it’s happening to people every
day now in just a couple of minutes
you’re going to walk out of this room
equipped with a secret that you can
harness for good or for bad and that
secret is if you share with care and you
post with purpose you can achieve what
you’re setting out to do in your life
and the other thing I’d like everyone to
think about is this notion that we risk
our lives online and in some ways it’s
shocking to say it but our online lives
may be even more important than our
actual real lives today more than at any
other time in history perception is
reality how we present ourselves makes a
difference in how people view us they
draw conclusions about us when they’ve
never actually even met us so we all
have a responsibility if we care what
people think about us and we should care
to some extent because it’s going to
have an impact on the future arc of our
lives we have to consider what how we
conduct ourselves now more than ever we
are connected to a network of people
that spans not just our schools our
workplaces our cities our towns our
state’s our country but the entire globe
we are connected with people with whom
we will never stand in the same room
will never look at them face-to-face and
so these people are going to draw many
of them conclusions about us based on
not a conversation not an opportunity to
dissuade them of any misperceptions that
they have or misconceptions they’re
going to be looking for information
about us they’re going to be looking for
clues and where are they going to be
doing that they’re going to be doing
that online so there are two concepts
that I think we all need to bear in mind
and I’m going to repeat them a couple of
because I think they’re just really
critical for us all to think about the
first is to share with care what do I
mean by that I mean before we go and we
share information on the Internet in
whatever form or ever fashion we’re
doing it whether that’s a blog or that’s
a we’re communicating with people on
social media we’re active on Facebook
we’re doing posting videos to musically
we’re on snap chat with our buddies
every time that we’re posting content
there we need to think about safety
implications and share with care because
we may be revealing information about
ourselves or information about friends
or loved ones or people we know that
could literally put them in danger
physically at some point and the other
concept is to post with purpose and by
that I mean before we rush to just say
whatever is on our minds and get it out
and enjoy the immediacy and the
satisfaction of that social media
provides as a way to express ourselves
we need to hit the pause button for a
moment and think and reflect before we
actually post and make sure that what
we’re posting serves serves us well and
positions us how we’d like to be thought
of not as a hateful or spiteful person
but someone who’s a caring person or
respectful you want some examples I’m
going to give you some examples and
these examples are here to serve as an
illustration that for those of us
walking around everyday folks like you
folks like me in the snap of a finger in
an instant the digital footprint that we
have left can have wide-ranging
consequences on our lives here you see
an image of a beauty queen Miss Teen USA
so clearly the model of what every young
woman is supposed to be if you subscribe
to the idea that beauty contests are
indeed delivering that so poised
articulate smart beautiful talented and
yet within a short time after being
crowned with our title people look
through her social media and what did
they find
and they found that she had repeatedly
used racial epithets on her Twitter feed
changed the way a lot of people thought
about her and whether she was actually
the model for how young women should
conduct themselves she was forced to
apologize see the guy in the suit and
tie this gentleman recently lost his job
why because during the State of the
Union address he tweeted and the tweet
that he sent out I have no doubt was in
the heat of the moment he felt
passionately about what he was saying
and he sent out a tweet that actually
was disparaging toward the wife of a
servicemen who lost his life in a
military operation so he was roundly
criticized by people on both sides of
the aisle there was a big hubbub on
social media and you may be thinking
well it’s social media it’s a tempest in
a teapot it’s online well it had real
consequences because within a couple of
days his bio had been removed from his
company’s website he had been fired and
the company that he worked for was had
was forced to release a statement saying
that the comments that their former
employee made don’t reflect their values
and he was no longer with the company
next you have a young man you see at the
top of the screen he was doing what a
lot of us do he was online he was
playing games with with some of his
friends after the games were over they
were on facebook they were chatting
someone made a joke it was banter back
and forth they were teasing each other
someone said he was crazy to which he
responded I’m just paraphrasing here
this is not a direct quote that’s right
I’m so crazy that I’m gonna go and I’m
gonna shoot up a kindergarten people who
he was conversing with I’m guessing that
they understood the context they felt
like they were having this back and
forth they understood that he didn’t
literally mean that he intended to go
and shoot up a kindergarten and have
blood raining down he said it though and
guess what it wasn’t his friends or the
people he knew who saw
that comment that created the problem
for him it was someone else who came
across these was alarmed by what she had
seen and contacted the police now mind
you this was within a few weeks of a
shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school
police at any time would take threats
like this seriously but in that context
they took it even more seriously they
went to his house they arrested him they
threw him in jail he spent months in
jail and now he continues to be on trial
facing a long prison sentence for making
a terrorist threat what we do and what
we say online whether we’re joking or
were serious if we don’t share with care
and post with purpose they can have
serious consequences on us this
gentleman many of you recognize he
exploded onto the national consciousness
during the height of the political
season last year he stood up at a town
hall meeting and he asked a very earnest
question about energy policy it was very
refreshing for people in a campaign that
was marked by a lot of personal attacks
and criticism that they weren’t focusing
on the issue he asked an issue based
question he seemed like such a nice
jolly guy and my goodness what a
beautiful red sweater well it didn’t
take long before he was catapulted he
went from having seven Twitter followers
two of whom or his grandparents to
having a quarter million Twitter
followers he was shuttling around from
television studio to television studio
he was known nationally he was a
internet famous he wouldnt was invited
to host and ask me anything on Reddit
and it was there that people started
looking through the comments that he’d
made when he was on reddit and found
some really offensive really rude really
crude things so it didn’t take him long
to rise and it didn’t take long for him
to fall either but if you’re thinking
that these are just random examples
these don’t have anything to do with you
and I these are these are the exceptions
not the rule I can tell you that’s not
true
because the first place that HR people
and prospective employers are looking
when they’re considering bringing people
into their companies is they’re looking
online and they’re looking at the
digital footprint and they want to see
what that person has revealed about him
or herself the gentleman in this picture
was actually a teacher I say was because
he was fired he was fired because of
this picture because one of the parents
at the school where he taught contacted
the administration and they said we’re a
Christian school I found this photo of
him posing with alcohol with his wife I
don’t think that this represents our
values I don’t think that this sets a
proper example for our children and the
administration they agreed and he lost
his job but here’s the interesting thing
he never posted this photograph online
he didn’t put it on his Instagram this
was a photo that had been posted years
earlier on his wife’s Instagram so
someone at the school went online they
were looking around they weren’t even
looking at the teachers accounts they
were looking at someone connected to him
and they happen to happened upon this
photo so the lesson that we should draw
from this is it’s not even the things
that we’re posting that we have to be
concerned about we have to be thinking
also about what are people posting about
us both people we know and people who we
don’t know when you’re at a party and
someone takes a silly picture of you
what’s going to happen with that
photograph could it come back to hurt
you the answer I think is pretty clearly
yes I can tell you from my own personal
experience there been two occasions in
recent years where people’s online
digital footprint has torpedoed their
career prospects the first happened when
I was working in Washington DC I was
looking for a writer it needed to be
someone who was very talented and would
produce high level material that we
could use to then give to members of
Congress and other policymakers so the
quality and the integrity needed to be
top-notch well I got a resume that blew
my mind I got a cover letter that was
astoundingly well written
and I was thinking to myself this guy is
too good to be true so I did what every
good person does in this day and age I
went on Google and one point 16 seconds
later I knew that he wasn’t the right
guy for the job how did I know because
when I googled him I found that he had
been involved with plagiarism and he’d
been busted he’d been outed and people
had written about it online and in the
media I wasn’t about to bring a
plagiarist into our office and
compromise the integrity of my
department and my organization digital
footprint did him in just a year ago
there was a young man who was when I say
stalking me I don’t mean in the scary
sense like he’s showing up at my house
or wanting to make rabbit stew of my
kids pet bunny I mean this guy was
connecting with me on LinkedIn friending
me on Facebook he was calling the office
he was sending the emails he sent me his
resume he’d written a cover letter he
was liking my posts on linkedin he was
showing me that he really wanted to talk
with me about what an asset he could be
to our company told me what a great
writer he was big mistake because I
wanted to see and the writing was pretty
good but I checked down his blog and
what did I find when i trolled back a
few months a couple years skimming
through well I found that he had had a
job and he had disparaged his employer I
thought to myself well that’s not
someone who we’re going to bring in here
too much of a risk so where does that
leave us it means all of us before we go
to share anything online we need to do
the two things that I’ve describing to
you we need to share with care and we
need to post with purpose so we need to
hit the pause button we need to think
and we need to consider that people all
around us are going to be drawing
conclusions about us based on what we’re
putting out there into the world they’re
going to draw a conclusion about us
they’re going to take all these
different pieces of information that are
out there into the world and piece them
together like pieces of a puzzle to put
together a picture of who they think we
are and at the end of the day
all of us need to consider are we going
to take to heed this discussion that
we’re having right now and are we going
to decide that not just some of the time
not just every once in a while but all
the time are we going to think about
what the implications are of what we
share online and instead of being an
oversharer are we going to be more
cautious more reserved more strategic
about what we put out into the world
well I hope that it’s something that all
of us will do and all of us will
consider because after all our lives may
depend on it thank you [Applause]