Opinions vs. Policies: The Social Media Dilemma

In today’s digital age, one tweet, one comment, or one opinion shared online can become the reason a person loses a job, a scholarship, or a spot in school. Yes, you heard me right. Social media has given everyone a platform to express themselves, but it has also become a double-edged sword. The line between personal opinion and professional consequence is becoming increasingly blurred. But should it be?

If a person’s opinion shared on their personal account does not cause harm to other people and it within their right, then I see no problem but in todays digital world, there can be so much problem just from a single comment, post, or repost that expresses one’s opinion and in today’s blog, I’ll be sharing that with you. Remember, this is based on my opinion which might differ from yours, but anyway we are all here to learn because we are the Hive Learners community, so sit back and listen.

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In a world where social media is something that has been linked to one’s life, what ever we say or do on social media shows our intent towards something. You can’t make a post saying

“Hive sucks and it’s useless”

On your personal social media account and feel it’s has nothing to do with hive and you’re just saying what you feel like without harming or hurting anyone. Yeah, that might be your intention but do you think it’s fine for you to benefit from a system which you condemn often. Ok, that’s the first example.

Currently, because of how vast the digital world is, many companies have now included it in their contract of employment agreements that any post that could bring the image of their company down by any employee of that company would result to immediate termination of employment.

But let’s be real, some of these posts don’t even go viral before they trigger any consequences which is why most company don’t even pay attention to any of their employees posts, but one thing we should always keep in mind is that the internet never forgets and your next employer might go through your social media and that could result in you not getting the job.

But here’s where it gets tricky. What about people who share their views, respectfully and responsibly, about sensitive or controversial topics, and still get called out or punished for it? Let’s take Rayo (The NYSC lady) who called out the president because of how hard things are getting. Did her video go viral and yield result? Yes, but what was the consequences, she was given two extra months to serve the country without any pay.

In conclusion, there are times people who post all of their opinions because they believe it won’t go viral and can’t affect their current job, this set of people need to think twice and think about other future job they can get and how their post can affect them positively or negatively

Thanks for reading. My name is Fashtioluwa.

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