eric tatro dot com

A world where reputations are destroyed with a slip of the tongue is a very perilous world, indeed. Twenty years ago one could make a remark in bad taste on television, or the radio or even in print and chances are, unless it was remarkably offensive, it would go largely unnoticed. Even then, the opportunity to put one’s foot in one’s mouth and have it broadcast across a wide area was largely confined to television personalities or politicians.

Today we’ve got video from TV recorded to DVRs, ripped to hard drives and uploaded to YouTube for everyone to view, share, and embed. Local newspaper stories are available to a global audience in an instant. Millions upon millions of people are sharing thoughts, photos, video and other information via blogs and social networks. What was once the domain of professional broadcasters and public figures has now trickled down to anyone with an internet connection and a Blogger account.

Yes, now we all have the opportunity to put our foot in our mouth and have it broadcast, so to speak, around the world.

Everyone’s heard horror stories about someone sending an embarrassing e-mail to an unintended recipient. Or, for that matter, everyone in the office. New job applicants fresh out of college are inadvertently sharing their compromising spring break photos with their future potential employers via their MySpace pages. Add in message boards, social networks, blog comments… And so on. Plus we have to remain transparent, so when we screw up we’re not supposed to (ahem) quietly sweep our comments under the rug. It’s tough.

The sheer number of opportunities we have to communicate on a widespread scale means we’ve got to be extremely careful in what we write or say. Seeing as how we’re the first generation to face this responsibility, there are bound to be some growing pains. The best we can do is try and not write anything online that can come back and bite us, double-check before hitting “save,” and have mercy on those who slip up.