Social media can be a blessing and a curse.
Sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow the easy, instantaneous spreading of information. They allow families divided by oceans to maintain contact and share photos, bring together long-lost friends and ensure that bonds of mateship are not lost through distance.
But
there is a downside to this wonderful world of instant messaging. Quite aside from some of the inane material found online, there is a dangerous component to some posts. In some ways it is driven by the ease in which an instinctive, instant reaction can be widely broadcast.
Take for example, the reaction to the post on the Chronicle Facebook page claiming a random attack on a group of young people. There was claim and counter-claim about who did what and what should be done to those accused of being in the wrong. Among all the text speak, street lingo and other colloquialisms were some pretty scary statements. Aside from the coarse language used by some, there were taunts, threats and all manner of accusations.
Perhaps it is so easy to comment that people forget that what they post is public and subject to the law. That so many were from mobile devices suggests they were sent in the heat of the moment without thought or regard for any consequences. It is an offence to incite violence, racial hatred or make threats against people's well-being. Yet that is exactly what some did, despite warnings.
