What are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, and government official)?
For any individual who is a public figure or regarded to as a person in a position of trust, they automatically possess a higher standard of influence compared to a regular person. They can be regarded as people who have worked up the bureaucratic ladder of power, and thus earned the position to influence those below them. Social media is one tool that public and authority figures can use to, as Sophie Lui mentioned, maintain relevance, widely make their content accessible to the world, and ultimately public discourse. However, if this is done in an inappropriate, offensive, or simply just in a way that is not well-accepted by their audience, there is a high risk that that public figure will be held accountable, and possibly damage their reputation or image.
What are the benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space?
Simply, the main benefit is the ability to influence others, quickly and efficiently. The more power you have (via this being from your popularity, reputation, or relevancy), the more influence you have across a public audience in a media space. Something I mentioned to my learning pod was the influence of media spaces on us as a public audience of content consumers has become so invisible, that we often do not notice it. For example, we might not notice something is an advertisement or a biased paid partnership post because social media now allows you to discretely mention that it is, rather than having it visibly on the post.
What are the risks of engaging with a public audience in a media space?
As much as the benefits provide, the risks can deplete. Like I mentioned, if a public figure or a person in a position of trust shares something to their audience that is inappropriate, offensive, or even innocently misunderstood, they can risk losing their position of power within media spaces but within their profession as well. Because these media store data, an employer has concrete evidence of their wrongdoing, and consequently fire them. The idea that “nothing is ever deleted” also is a risk to that individual, as their chances of further employment are at risk, due to that individuals reputation and image very visibly becoming damaged for many to see.
What is the best address negative replies and reviews which reflect your personal values?
Although I have never been in a position to receive backlash through social media, I believe that it truly depends on the context of your post. I personally see so much hate circulating through platforms such as TikTok and Twitter, through anonymous accounts. Being a public figure, it is unfortunately inevitable to receive negative responses, so it is important to consider that not all of them are worth responding to. It comes with the role: as a public figure, you have to be prepared to receive the negative comments. Something that platforms like Instagram or Twitter provide is the ability to choose who comments on your posts, ultimately limiting the ability for negative comments to surface. If you post something that had no malicious intent, yet your audience misunderstood and negatively responded, I believe that you could take down that post, and send out another post apologizing and re-phrasing it. However, the internet is not very forgiving, and thus why it is so important to carefully think through what you display and post.
