I think it comes down to several reasons – 1. That the internet is more anonymous than real life and there’s a risk of trolling, some of it quite nasty. 2. Our society is very PC now and a consequence of that is that we’re scared of offending anyone and 3. If we’re on social media to promote our brands we want to protect those brands because if we do voice an opinion online we have to be face issues 1&2 and risk damaging the brand. For example, if I put on my twitter feed “loooving my rare steak right now. So glad I’m not a sucky quinoa eating vegetarian!!!” That immediately offends and alienates vegetarians and then they would be less likely to book me to photograph their wedding, plus I’d be seen as opinionated and obnoxious.
I did feel a little shame last weekend when the yesallwomen hashtag was trending, as I really wanted to show support but didn’t want to get harangued and sent obscene tweets and death threats, which a lot of posters reported as receiving. I know life isn’t all vanilla ombré frosting and pink peonies, but if you’re online due to business then you really have to think before you write something that could come back to haunt you later.
Ps: no vegetarians or quinoa were harmed during the making of this post
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