By Edwin Amoro
Published April 4, 2015
The use of sites like Facebook and Twitter have become so popular as they enable people create and share information instantly via the Internet. But, did you know that the wrong use of these social media sites could pose a threat to the user’s welfare?
Job Loss
One may lose one’s job due to reduced productivity resulting from one spending too much time on chatting on social media at the expense of one’s routine work.
Un-employability
Inappropriate posts–pictures, messages–on one’s social media pages may deny one the chance of being employed as potential employers may be uncomfortable hiring one fearing one will be a ruin their organisation.
RELATED: More Than Half of LinkedIn and Twitter Users In Kenya Are Dormant
Ruining of Reputation
The kind of content one posts on one’s social media pages can injure one’s reputation and public image as readers conclude the posts represent the character of the person who creates them.
Mistrust in Relationships
Social media can ruin love and family relationships. If a man or a woman in a committed relationship posts pictures of themselves and other people in compromising situations, the posts may both offend and disrupt their committed relationships.
Identity Theft
Posting documents like identity cards, academic certificates and property ownership deeds on social media in the mistaken hope of ‘networking’ for jobs, tenders and scholarships could be detrimental to one as one’s identity could be stolen and used in harming one.
RELATED: How Technological Advancement is Turning Us into Social Idiots
Misinformation
Rumours or deliberate misinformation may mislead one into taking the wrong decision. A post on Facebook saying terrorists were going to attack Kenya’s Egerton University in western Kenya after the attack on Garissa University College in north-eastern Kenya on April 2, 2015 caused panic around the country on April 4, 2015. Police have arrested someone in connection with the offending post.
