Facebook: Friend or foe?

Recent events have demonstrated just how influential Facebook has become in everyday life. Good, bad or indifferent, the social media site holds powerful sway in almost everything we do.

If you don’t believe me, just ask Jay Reeves of the Sealy Police Department. One minute he is a captain and acting police chief. One Facebook comment later he is a lieutenant, demoted over something that has nothing to do with his ability as a police officer or leader in the department.

On a more personal note, I got burned four weeks ago because I trusted information I found via Facebook as it related to a shooting death and let that impair my professional instincts and judgment. To those affected by that, I offer my sincerest apologies.

These two incidences reflected good examples of the importance given to social media and Facebook specifically. In the case of Reeves, his comment was very benign and in what should have been a private conversation. Nonetheless, it went public and a high value was placed on it.

In my case, I got caught up in a very public discourse and acted too hastily with information. I weighted what was essentially a gossip column equally with that of legitimate, established media and as a result my reputation and level of trust with the public suffered.

One of the takeaways from this is the adage: What happens online, stays online. Once you put words or pictures out there, there is no taking it back or controlling its audience. All it takes is someone to make a quick screenshot or with the appropriate hacking skills to give even deleted items new life.

On the upside, there are tremendous benefits to social media. I’m a notorious Facebookaholic. I use it to keep up with family and friends from border to border and coast to coast to coast, plus several overseas. At The Sealy News, we use it to promote stories and advertisements and to communicate instantly with a much larger audience than we typically get on our website.

We have tried using other social media sites but they don’t get the attention or traction here that Facebook does. Apparently Twitter isn’t very popular in Austin County. We tried using it a while ago. The results were underwhelming. I’ve even gone as far as to remove the Twitter app from my phone.

Facebook has become the newsfeed and diary of our lives. I’ve noticed that I get more information more quickly from my Facebook feed than I do any other single source. As often as I get frustrated with Facebook and contemplate leaving it, I can’t. It’s entertaining and informative. I won’t go as far as to say that life happens on Facebook, but it certainly gets reported, updated and shared there.

It is a place where you can interact directly with your favorite actors, athletes, authors, artists and other celebrities. I don’t think there is a day gone by that I haven’t seen something from Star Trek actor George Takei and I don’t even follow him. He is a prolific poster and a lot of my friends share his stuff.

One thing I have to consider is how much I want to know about the new Star Wars movie coming out this year. It’s the first one in the age of social media and lots of stuff is being leaked. I still don’t know if I want to eat up all the information in advance or wait and be surprised when I see it on the big screen. So far I’ve been ignoring everything that has a spoiler alert or a disclaimer that the information hasn’t been verified.

This is certainly a lot to digest, but that’s the complexity of Facebook and the control it has in everyday life. The main thing, I guess, is to not let it consume your life. Don’t forget to turn off your phone and step away from your computer and get out into the real world. You can always post what happens later…