Digital communication breakdowns are not only common, but they are also commonly misinterpreted. The convenience of social media from its rapid communication and sense of anonymity behind a screen can also be its downfall. People who misinterpret and respond to someone else’s post or someone who posts information with a misinformed source hold significant power. The difficulty that arises from social media is its tendency to promote the “mob mentality”. A significant example of this took place in 2017 when a professor from the University of Arkansas was falsely accused of being seen leading a nationalist white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, VA. Professor Kyle Quinn is a biomedical engineering professor at the University of Arkansas and was in Arkansas the night of the rally in Charlottesville. However, a misinformed social media participant noticed a man wearing an “Arkansas Engineering” shirt at the rally and mistakenly identified this man as Kyle Quinn. Following the rally, Professor Quinn received massive amounts of hate mail and even emails from his university inquiring whether he truly was involved in the rally or not, as it would absolutely bring a terrible reputation to the University of Arkansas as well as Professor Quinn. Professor Quinn quickly reacted, informing the media of where he was the night of the rally and how he could not have been the man seen in the photo. Nonetheless, the individual who posted the picture on Instagram, created a viral and hateful post that quickly spread throughout the internet and could have cost Professor Quinn his job and his career. This breakdown could have been easily avoided, as the only way the user validated their tweet was by comparing two images and assuming that the two individuals were the same. There wasn’t any fact-checking, or even cross-referencing done in order to validate the user’s assumption. Instead, they quickly posted the picture and allowed the internet to spread the image (and assumptions accompanying it) throughout social media. The user knew their audience, they knew how quickly people react to this issue, and granted if the professor had been present at the nationalist rally it should have been detrimental to his career. However, he was not there and the user who posted the picture seemed to want attention more so than justice. A more respectful and thoughtful approach to this situation could have been contacting the university to report the possible allegation and allow them to investigate, or simply take more time personally investigating the allegation before placing it out in the social media universe. This situation reminded me of the story Jon Ronson referenced in, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, where a man is fired from his job due to crude comments he made at a tech conference. That moment was captured by a woman who took a picture of him and posted it on Twitter detailing what he was saying. While the exact details of these two situations differ, the overarching concept is similar. Both users who made the post on social media felt as if they were using social media as a medium for social justice, expecting the individuals to be shamed for their actions. However, what both users failed to recognize was the severity of their claims and the impact it placed on both of these men’s careers. Employers are represented by their workforce, if members of their workforce are negatively viewed, that translates to the employer. Therefore, often times whether the allegation is true or not, the employers have to take action in order to save their reputation and business. What both social media users should have realized in these two situations is that their voice on social media is loud and can often cause harm to others. While we may think that public shaming is all that can result from “exposing” people, the possible ramifications are much larger and more severe than this.
1 Comment
Jack Tucker
11/13/2018 12:27:02 pm
I had never heard of Kyle Quinn before this, but I remember a lot of the comments & tension online in the wake of the Charlottesville rallies. I can certainly imagine it being an easy time for people to receive a lot of vitriol online because people were angry at a larger issue & they wanted people to point their anger at. This is a great example & one I'm glad I've heard about now.
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