Rule Of Thumb: How Can Twitter Impact Our Career Goals?
SEAN GLADWELL
The internet is a time capsule for some of our worst moments. Our past internet activity can be brought to light years later and have irreversible negative consequences. Twitter is the ultimate platform for spreading information quickly in the form of text message-like posts. So what can happen when politically incorrect tweets posted years prior begin to resurface in the court of public opinion?
Most recently, Teen Vogue's newest editor-in-chief resigned from her position after past racist and homophobic tweets resurfaced. Alexi McCammond established herself as a political reporter while covering Biden's presidential campaign and was named the emerging journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists. She was in line to be the third Black woman to be the top editor for Teen Vogue.
After her hiring was announced, tweets from 2011 that McCammond posted as a teenager recirculated. In them, she had made comments about Asian facial features and derogatory Asian stereotypes. Additionally, homophobic tweets and pictures of McCommand dressed in a Native American costumed in 2011 resurfaced. Confronted with immediate backlash by the public and Teen Vogue employees, she deleted the tweets and issued an apology on Twitter. However, screenshots taken of the tweets before they were deleted remained online.
Major advertisers with Teen Vogue suspended their campaigns with the magazine, and McCammond was further criticized. Specifically, major advertiser, Ulta Beauty paused ad spending on the publication’s website due to concerns around diversity. Ulta had recently been under fire for accusations of racial profiling of customers in stores and lack of diversity in brands it carries, and as a result, is moving towards more inclusive practices.
Before her job offer, McCammond had been vetted by Condé Nast, Teen Vogue's publisher, and top executives, including Anna Wintour. They were aware of the tweets and acknowledged them in the interview. Even with that, McCammond was still an impressive candidate with her work in journalism. For many journalists, Twitter is a powerful tool that can be used to connect with their audience and promote their stories. Reporters and journalists that have a positive reputation on social media are likely to have more public engagement and interest in their work.
Teen Vogue has evolved in recent years from a fashion magazine to a platform that also discusses politics and activism. The rebrand broadens the magazine's young audience to appeal to readers that are interested and responsible members of society. With this even coming during a time of heightened discussion about violence and harassment directed against Asian-Americans, the backlash was expressed, and action was taken quickly. The hiring of McCammond and accepting her history would have clashed with Teen Vogue's values.
The year prior, Adam Rapoport stepped down from his position as editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit, also a Condé Nast publication, after a photo resurfaced on Twitter of him and his wife dressed in racially insensitive Halloween costumes that depicted themselves as Peurto Ricans. The image of Rapoport in brown face was brought to light after Illyanna Maisonet's, a freelance Puerto Rican food columnist, story she had pitched was rejected by the magazine. She posted the conversation she had with Rapoport in which he acknowledged the lack of stories about Puerto Rican cuisine and suggested how Maisonet might find "a way into" the magazine. The public was upset that Rappoport seemed to disregard publicizing significant Puerto Rican cultural aspects, such as cuisine, yet portray negative stereotypes through a costume.
After the circulation of Rapoport's image, it was also exposed that Bon Appetit did not compensate employees of color equally compared to white editors who appeared in their YouTube channel's most popular videos. Many employees took to social media to express their feelings about the situation. They would not participate in the company's videos until BIPOC employees were treated and compensated equally.
Social media and the resurrection of old tweets can bring down almost anyone. Even those who never expect to be in the public eye are susceptible to being scrutinized for past social media posts. For example, Iowa State University football fan Carson King unexpectedly became famous when he appeared in the background of an ESPN broadcast holding a sign requesting donations to his "Busch Light Supply." He announced that the $600 received would be donated to a local children's hospital. Donations continued to come in, including from the Anheuser-Busch brewing company and Iowa business, raising a total of $1.8 million. King received so much praise that the state governor of Iowa declared September 28th "Carson King Day" due to his selflessness and volunteerism.
This was all until Des Moines Register reporter Aaron Calvin published a feature on King that included two racist tweets posted eight years ago while King was in high school. King issued an apology for his past behavior and thanked the reporter for pointing out his mistakes.
Some criticized the newspaper for bringing up King's old posts. But Busch Light still decided to distance themselves from King while still committing to donate to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital.
With the backlash for the article on King, the public started to uncover that Calvin also had tweeted that "mocked same-sex marriage, domestic abuse, and included a racial slur." Calvin, similar to King, apologized for his insensitive tweets and for not holding himself to the standard that the Register held others. The paper decided to fire Calvin from his position after the tweets were brought to attention.
Politically charged tweets are also susceptible to scrutiny online. Gina Carano was quickly fired from her role in “The Mandalorian” series and dropped by Lucasfilm and her agency after sharing posts on social media that compared the U.S.'s political climate to Nazi Germany. Fans of the show took to Twitter, tagging Disney Plus and “Star Wars” using the hashtag #FireGinaCarano, asking for Carano to be dropped from the series. Previously, Carano had changed her Twitter bio to include “beep/bop/boop,” disparaging people who choose to include their preferred pronouns in their bio. Carano later said that she did not know why people included that on their profiles and the situation helped her better understand. Similar to the other scenarios, she deleted her controversial posts from social media.
What we post online can have serious repercussions that can affect our careers and our social status amongst peers. With more people using social media to express their opinions freely, there is bound to be disagreement. With disagreement comes "cancel culture," which is the phenomenon of promoting the "canceling" of people, brands, or movies and shows due to being considered offensive or problematic by others.
The social media trend allows anyone to scrutinize just about anything for political correctness. Twitter has become a prominent court of public opinion. Twitter's use of hashtags makes it quick and easy to spread the news. Twitter's algorithm determines what is trending by favoring sharp spikes of topics that are mentioned in a high volume and measured by how much time it takes to create that volume. Therefore, as soon as a collective of people decides to "cancel" something or someone, it is likely to be seen by millions on Twitter's trending list.
The algorithm makes it a real possibility for false information to be spread very quickly. When incorrect information is used to cancel someone, it can become very problematic and challenging to tarnish one's name. "Cancelling" has also been accused as a method of stifling free speech. The fear of being publicly canceled on the internet and the backlash that ensues is enough to prevent someone from voicing a controversial opinion.
However, it can be argued that there are benefits to contemplating a tweet before posting it to the internet. "Cancel culture" has also sparked essential conversations regarding systemic issues within our society. Twitter helped to publicize the complaints and charges of sexual assault, sexism, and unfair treatment of women during the #MeToo movement.
With so much being posted online per second, it can be overlooked that every one of those posts is archived on the internet. There is the ability to dig up just about any online information, even if it was deleted at some point. What does this mean for generations that grow up entirely online?
Every child born in today's world will grow up with the freedom the internet provides. The internet is a tool that will provide resources for educational purposes and entertainment. But with that, there is the freedom to see and post just about anything online.
At the same time, mentally developing children and teenagers are more likely to make impulsive decisions. Should they be held accountable for the questionable things said online into their adulthood?
As social media becomes a staple in the lives of future generations, what is posted will have a more significant impact. Young adults often underestimate just how much personal information about their lives is accessible online. More and more universities and employers look at prospective students' and employees' social media profiles to determine acceptance. Posting anything that reflects the negative qualities of an individual gives companies and schools grounds to reject that person.
There will be cases of offensive posts and "cancel culture" broadcasted on social media for the foreseeable future. Time and trends will tell to what degree of severity society deems these situations. We will also have to decide at what age we become accountable for what we say online.
