Rep. Anthony Weiner and other straying midlife males might do well to remember that technology is not a reliable friend.
Weiner, 48, is the Congressman from New York (and mayoral candidate) who admitted Monday to posting photos of his underpants-clad private parts on Twitter. He is only the latest middle-aged male on the make to be tripped up by technology. His colleague, Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., resigned in February after sending photos of his naked torso to a woman on Craigslist. Romantic text messages between Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and an aide contributed to that politician's downfall.
Why do these men, all married, carry on? The answer to that question is as old as the species. New to the planet are the handy mobile devices and WiFi access that put temptation closer and offer the illusion of safety. Far from safety, these tools have the effect of live-blogging the misdeeds of those who are caught. (Remember the "slow-jam" montage of Tiger Woods' telephone messages to his lover?)
And the people least likely to have a full command of Twitter and Facebook skills are the middle-aged men who are tempted.
Weiner was caught when he mistakenly posted his photo to his Twitter account, rather than sending it as a private direct message to its intended recipient, a 21-year-old Washington state college student.
"It's really easy to make that mistake," said communications strategist Margot Carmichael Lester. "The whole advent of easy communication in all of its formats makes it a lot easier for you to forget that private doesn't meant the same thing anymore."
For example, even direct messages are accessible by strangers if one uses such third-party platforms as TweetDeck, said Jenny Voigt DeVaughn, vice president of social media for SHRM-Atlanta.
But because the world of social media is so new, many barely grasp its risks, she said. Weiner, a Democrat, who used Twitter extensively in campaigning, also admitted that he had “inappropriate” exchanges with six women through Twitter, Facebook and the telephone. Now conservative bloggers, including Andrew Breitbart, promise a host of additional electronic evidence, including photos and text messages.
"When I speak to HR groups, I often find most organizations don’t have a social media policy or any type of training," said DeVaughn. "I don’t know if our senators or representatives were given social media training," she added, "but they should have enough common sense not to send out anything inappropriate or offensive."
Said Lester, founder of N.C.-based The Word Factory, “The moral of the story is don’t take pictures of your [privates] with the intent to transmit them electronically. Many bad things won’t happen to you if you don’t do that.”
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