AS ALWAYS, INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED
Even as Twitter monitoring evolves, revival of old posts shows ...
This is the first year the Library of Congress will stop archiving public tweets since the process began in 2010, allowing other services to pick up the slack.
Websites such as allmytweets.net provide instant access to every tweet you or anyone else has ever posted — up to the most re- cent 3,200 — without having to scroll through an individual’s timeline.
So watch what you type.
If you were to scan through old tweets and social media posts, you might find some questionable content or stances you no longer hold in such high regard. Some breakout stars, overnight celebrities and even journalists have been caught up in scandals recently surrounding their very accessible old social media posts.
Villanova basketball star Donte DiVincenzo learned this lesson after his stellar performance against Michigan in the NCAA National Championship game. Journalists and fans alike scoured his Twitter feed and found out that in 2011 DiVincenzo had posted tweets that used derogatory terms about African-Americans and LGBT individuals. Being named the Final Four’s most outstanding player may have helped his NBA draft stock, but social media posts he made when he was 15 could haunt him. He has since deleted his account. Cameron Kasky, a victim of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting who went viral after calling out Marco Rubio at a CNN Town Hall, was criticized by some over posts he made in 2017 stating that Rand Paul being assaulted was “good news” and that he hoped “everybody at the NRA shoots themselves.”
When one hopes to promote oneself as a leader of a nonviolent movement such as March For Our Lives, posts encouraging and condoning violence against others can contradict and diminish the efforts they are working toward.
Quinn Norton was hired by The New York Times editorial board and was quickly fired after Twitter users exposed old tweets that used racist and homophobic language.
The lesson here is obvious, as millennials would say: The internet is undefeated.
For all it can do to elevate your brand and extend your 15 minutes of fame, as former ESPN analyst Herm Edwards would say, “Think before you hit send.” One bad post can easily ruin your reputation.