Navigating Social Media and Avoiding the “Oops”

The debate over the role of social media in incidents is not a new one. The Norwegian Hull Club addressed some questions a mariner might ask themselves in this 2016 article, “Social media ‘oops’ – Awareness.”

Questions such as :

Will I be OK with my superior seeing this?

Will I be OK with the Ship Owner seeing this?

Will I be OK with a client seeing this?

Will I be OK with a journalist seeing this?

Do I know how open my social media profile is? Am I familiar with the default privacy settings?

Do I know all my Facebook friends? Do I know the intentions of my high school class mates from 20 years back?

Is my post in compliance with the company media policy? Am I the nominated media spokesperson?

In the aftermath of an incident, there’s sometimes a rush to let your “people” know that all is well. Just remember to keep that information to what you might want to see on a major news network, because there have been such surprises in the past.

Let’s be safe out there.