Disclaiming the Disclaimer

You’ve probably seen hundreds of them; you may even have one of our own on your Twitter bio.

Yes it’s the disclaimer; the one above is what’s opted for in many cases, however sometimes users get a bit creative.

After all these years there is still a general belief that these disclaimers in a Twitter profile somehow bestow a suit of armour if a problem arises with any dubious content issued from that person’s account.

It doesn’t matter how they phrased, a Twitter disclaimer is about as much use as an underwater hairdryer.

I don’t know where or when the disclaimer was born but like anything that gets repeated over and over again, the perception becomes reality.

To give it a legal comparison it’s like the word “allegedly” which is still thought of as a shield if used before a libellous or defamatory comment. Again, this is a popular misconception but still widely believed.

The main man in legal training for radio folk is Paul Chantler, he says this about that word

“For example, despite what you may have been led to believe by ‘Have I Got News For You?, the word “allegedly” is not a defence against a possible libel action; if anything it just digs you even deeper into the hole in which you’ve dug yourself. In libel cases, the burden of proof is on the defendant, so by using “allegedly”, you are, in effect, admitting you are not totally sure of the facts, and, therefore, have no adequate defence”.

The same thing applies to the Twitter disclaimer.

We shouldn’t need a form of words on our bio to protect us from our own ideas and thoughts being published on a public forum. All we need is to take responsibility for our opinions for that is what they are; they cannot be anyone else’s.

You will occasionally see another disclaimer on a Twitter profile which declares that :-

“Re-tweets are not endorsements”

My argument is that that is EXACTLY what they are. What else could they be, unless you add a caveat to the tweet you are sharing you can expect the content to be taken as something you not only agree with, but agree with enough to share with your own Twitter community.

Here’s a story that grabbed my attention in the last couple of days featuring a tweet from Geoffrey Miller, a Psychologist at the University of New Mexico.

He declared via Twitter :-

A rumpus quickly ensued as you would expect and with every justification, as unless he’s done research into both the correlation of willpower relating to the intake of carbohydrates and the impetus to complete a dissertation, he’s on shaky ground. Love the hashtag too, as if that’s enough proof to justify the preceding comments.

He soon responded to the criticism he was getting by explaining it was all part of a research program to gauge Twitter reaction to provocative comments. I suppose we should give him credit for trying to come up with something more creative than “I had my account hacked”, but once he realised we weren’t all born yesterday, he issued a disclaimer AGAINST HIS OWN OPINION.

It’s another example of the way an ill-judged, bone-headed Social Media posting can not only come back and bite you in the backside, but not be happy until it’s eaten your trousers too.

The way to avoid these embarrassing episodes is not to indulge in meaningless copy and paste disclaimers but to be measured, thoughtful and considered.

A tweet can take seconds to share but the impact and damage of a poorly judged post can stay with you for a lifetime.

 

You’re Never Too Old To Learn

Like the title says “You’re never too old to learn”, while on the other hand some say “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. I am proof that 50% of those sayings are true as I’ve only gone and got myself a degree. I graduated in July with an Arts degree in Social Media from the University of South Wales.

I didn’t do University after school, I went straight to work like many of my generation did. In those days trolling off to Uni was the exception rather than the rule and although I never regretted not going I think I would have enjoyed the experience. Instead I went and got myself some of that good old work experience, rather a lot of it in fact, over 30 years’ worth until I dipped my toe back in the pond of education.

In the last few years I’d been looking for a suitable subject to study since I rather fancied giving myself the challenge of learning something new and hopefully coming out the other end with a qualification to show for it. I also fancied the opportunity to dress up in the sash and cloak and twirl around like Kate Bush in the “Wuthering Heights” video.

Having spent most of my working life in broadcasting as a radio presenter and manager I originally looked at Degrees in Business Studies and Management and others of a similar vein but none of them filled me with enthusiasm. I thought over 20 years of management in the communications area had given all the knowledge and tools I need. I’ve been on more training courses and done more brainstorming and strategic thinking than you can shake a stick at.

I had embraced the explosion in Social Media while working as Head of Presentation at Real Radio and had recognised the power and influence digital platforms possess for business users. So with this mind when I found the University of Glamorgan’s (this was BM – before merger) Social Media course it seemed absolutely perfect for me. I had used Social Media in radio to build a community with my listener which meant I could talk to them and share content with them outside of normal show times. It seemed the perfect complementary medium to radio as both are very personal with that one-to-one feel about them. My view is that if you understand the way to successfully communicate with a radio listener you can use those principles to get the most out of social communities.

However, I wanted to get a more in depth knowledge and understanding of how Social Media worked from a business and marketing viewpoint and that’s what the course gave me. I developed a variety of other skills to go with the experience I had already gained in used my own digital platforms in the commercial radio business.

Along with my fellow students we benefitted from two terrific lecturers who had designed a course which, while giving us the chance to analyse case studies, create social media strategies and the like, also enabled us to sample other disciplines such as website creation and app building. Most of it was enjoyable and enlightening, although there was a time when anyone walking passed The Atrium one Monday afternoon in July was in danger of being directly underneath the path of a falling Apple Mac after the inability of iMovie to do a simple task like save a video blog proved almost fatal to some poor soul.

Aside from that small piece of techno violence the rest of the course was first class. I found the tasks and modules enjoyable and useful, the research fascinating and the discipline of completing tasks to a deadline challenging. I now understand why some people find learning addictive. There were a few of my classmates who had completed course after course and it’s easy to see how that can happen because it happened to me.

I would love to go on and further my studies but as I am using the Social Media experience I gained in radio together with the knowledge gained from my degree course to run my own Social Media training and consulting service I think it may have to wait a while, although as I write I can see a pile of evening class brochures waiting to be browsed.

I realise that education can be an expensive business and I would suggest that in many cases it is the cost of learning that will be the deciding factor in whether to sign up or not, I was lucky that my degree course was fully funded. I thoroughly enjoyed the process from start to finish and loved graduation day with my parents and my own family able to share it with me.

So I suppose the moral of this story is that you are never too old to learn, there is no question that what I’ve learnt at USW in the last two years has enhanced my skillset and will enable me to pass on even more expertise to customers and clients.