The ubiquity of social media means that a lot of the time, the users get complacent and stop what information gets out there. We post our every move on Facebook and Twitter, put our phone numbers and email addresses up for everyone to see, and say exactly where we’ll be at a certain time. We’ve been lulled into a false sense of security when it comes to social media, and sometimes that has consequences.
Facebook and Twitter make it easy to make plans and organize outings. I’ve RSVP’d to parties on there and made event pages to organize my own gatherings. It’s easy and efficient … if you make it private. Unfortunately, when you make events on Facebook, you can set it so that your friends can invite people. And sometimes this is a bad idea.
The genesis of the “teen party gets out of control when advertised on Facebook” thing was Australian teen Corey Worthington in 2008. The 16-year-old Worthington decided to throw a party and publicize it on Myspace and Facebook. The party attracted 500 attendees, who ended up trashing the house and the neighbourhood. Worthington became an Internet meme when he was interviewed while wearing sunglasses and a hoodie open over a bare chest, and said he couldn’t take off his sunglasses because they were famous.
Corey was not the end of the trend.
In May of this year, a Brampton teenager named Canice Ejoh planned a party at a mansion his family owned that was still under construction. He and his friends planned on 1,000 people, but ended up with double that after sending out an invitation via Facebook. All was going well until Ejoh noticed 300 people lined up outside and more guests were breaking in through the windows.
And in Australia again, a teenager planned a birthday party on Facebook, but let guests invite people. What was supposed to be a small house party ballooned to 180,000 responding to the invite. She had to cancel her party.
To be clear: organizing something over Facebook isn’t, in and of itself, bad. But make sure your privacy settings are ramped up so that you have control over who’s coming and only invite people you trust.
What else happens if you don’t care what goes up on social media? Well, if you’re a criminal, you get busted.
Let’s face it: most criminals aren’t that smart. And if there’s one thing I learned from Agatha Christie, it’s that people who do crime love to talk about it.
We return once again to Australia. Two years ago, police arrested six people that were driving dangerously after the perpetrators posted videos of themselves driving dangerously. And clearly showing they didn’t learn their lesson, the criminals then used Facebook to taunt the police.
In New York, a cop helped take down a group of burglars by friending them on Facebook. You would think a criminal would be wary about who he friends on Facebook, but evidently not. The cop didn’t engage with them at all – he just watched their status updates for information. The group members didn’t get a clue even after other gang members were arrested by bragging about their exploits on Twitter; they even joked that they could be next. And they were.
In 2012, a 16-year-old girl stabbed a 17-year-old girl and then boasted about it on Facebook. You can probably guess what happened next. The perpetrator’s mother brought her in to confess.
Then there are people who got in trouble for just not thinking about what they were saying on social media.
Last month, a university student in Georgia posted a threat against the school. The area was evacuated and the student was arrested and suspended. He said the post was a joke and he had no intention of harming anyone in the school. Hilarious.
Back in May, a Dutch teenager tweeted that she was with al-Qaeda and that she was planning something “big” for American Airlines. I have no idea what consequences could come out of that. Oh wait, I do: predictably, she was arrested. Southwest Airlines also reported a copycat prankster who tweeted a threat at them.
Adults get up in arms about teens being safe on social media and putting all their information out for the world to see, but it’s actually not that hard to safely use social media. Just don’t be a total idiot.
