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Choose links carefully

While I am fairly new to Twitter (you can see my tweets here), I have already learnt some clear rules about making effective tweets.

In particular, as a  reader of others’ tweets I now know that it is important to link only to public information.

Reading through some tweets I came across someone recommending an article which sounded interesting. As intended, I clicked on the link so I could read the article – and to be honest I almost retweeted the recommendation first but I decided to read it and add my own comments first. Luckily as it turned out.

The link successfully opened a new web page BUT it was the home page of the site rather than the expected article. Annoying enough but I perservered and enterted the article’s title into the search field on the site. Only to get a message that the article was reserved for paid members.

The article may have been great but I will never know.

If you come across a resource you want to share in Twitter (or Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, etc) then make sure the majority of people can actually access the information. Otherwise you are wasting their time and potentially damagaing your reputation.

Naming publicly

The naming and shaming will probably prove to be the greatest punishment. Chris Jackson

…we will name their names and shame them as they deserve to be shamed. Bob Dole

The above quotes got me thinking – is being named publicly for some wrong doing a bigger punishment than something like a fine or restriction? Do people who do the wrong thing actually deserve to be identified?

I don’t know that they deserve to be named and possibly humiliated by that naming, but I can see that naming them may protect others. For example, someone convicted of fraud isn’t someone I want to hire as an accountant or financial advisor, and having people who don’t pay for services they request listed may protect other businesses from being mistreated.

Some wrong doers appear to feel no shame and repeat their “crime” over and over; these are the ones people most need protecting from so making their names public seems somewhat just. With the internet, it is obviously mush easier to get names in front of a LOT of people instead of a smaller audience. For example, you can contact any magistrates court and ask for finding of any case which limits the access, but you can now also visit a website and see the outcomes for yourself.

What do you think – should wrong doers be publicly named as a punishment, to protect others, or not at all?

Part 2 in a couple of days…