(Front Page, Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday, October 31, 2010)
[President Aquino’s speechwriter has apologized for the disparaging comments she made about the wine served by Mr. Aquino’s Vietnamese hosts on Twitter]What I say is:
The world of social networking sites has come full circle. They virtually enabled a stranger to hook up, stalk, and comment to anything and anyone online. Evidently, they have become as staple as pandesal and coffee for us. The most popular ones are Friendster, Facebook and now Twitter. Twitter, in particular, has completely blurred the demarcation line between what is public and private. The most recent and buzz-worthy is Ms. Carmen Mislang, Pnoy’s speechwriter and aide who was one of his entourage in the recent trip to Vietnam. She unwittingly posted “disparaging” comments about her disappointing experience with the wine served and how unforgiving the roads in Hanoi (capital city) were. She tweeted: “the wine sucks”
Straight on, I would say, it’s normal and completely fine. She’s just like any ordinary cyber denizen who tweets, posts and comments, worse is, she’s no ordinary! Considering her position and how close she is with the President makes it all important and controversial. Whoever works around the President will be his reflection hence they must behave and observe caution and diplomacy like the VIP they're serving and representing.
I had the same horrible experience with social networking sites, when I recently posted something about the movie Eat, Pray, Love. Days prior to the movie, I received several invitations to watch the Julia-starrer, and as usual, the schedule overlapped and I was caught confused in between. I ended up offending a dear friend who dutifully checked the movie schedule for the two of us without any hint that I’ve seen the movie with somebody. I think she felt betrayed, that’s why I took it upon myself to apologize.
We are far worse than the wine in Vietnam, we SUCK! A little lesson to learn from this experience, social networking sites may be so transparent that anyone can freely say whatever it is in mind; caution and restraint will be the user’s call. Whatever is posted online will be subject to someone’s contempt and scrutiny. So, next time you logged in, "triple-think" its consequences!
We are not BIRDS, so Tweet less!
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