Twitter remains a remarkable social media site that connects people and organizations all around the world. Users are allowed to post content provided it does not go against the Twitter terms and conditions. They can, therefore, post a variety of issues, which may as well be negative posts about other people, organizations, governments, or anything they feel they wish to share.
Profanity is considered an issue between the person who tweeted and the person spoken ill of. For example, when an employee of KitchenAid accidentally posted a negative comment about President Obama’s late grandmother, the tweet was so offensive and was removed less than five minutes after it was posted. The post was intended for the employee’s personal account but instead ended up being posted on the brand’s account. The company and its senior members followed with messages expressing their apologies and stated that the tweet was not a representation of the brand’s opinion. This is a major problem in that, most of the people who read that comment immediately found it as offensive. The drama spread far and wide given the person addressed by the tweet and the nature of that tweet. This may have led to a fluctuation in the number of customers who eat at the KitchenAid. The response time, however, for the situation to be handled was less than three hours: KitchenAid’s professional response to the situation attracted the brand over 1000 new followers.
In order to reduce instances of people being persecuted for their opinions, criteria for a solution should be established. The evaluation can be divided into stages: First, define the ‘ideal’ solution. This is the solution which is most likely to be implemented. In this case, the ideal solution would be to create a validation on the source code which refuses to post any comment which contains negative language. A validation source code is a system allowing restriction of values, words, or inputs against a set standard. The restriction is implemented whenever the program is run. The comment will only be posted once the statement has been affirmed by the program. The input validation would reduce chances of negative or offensive comments being posted on social media. The system detects any negative posts using key words and notifies the administrator, restricting them until they are approved. Second, eliminate solutions which cannot meet the constraints. These solutions may include automatic removal of accounts whose owners usually use inappropriate language. Such solutions cannot be implemented because they end up reducing the number of subscribers to the site and would reduce the popularity of the site. Taking someone to court over a post on the social media is also an overreaction. They are, therefore, taken off the table and better solutions are sought.
It is also important to evaluate the remaining solutions against the results required. The other solutions may include automatic detection and elimination of negative comments, sending a warning message to people who go against the rule, and preventing offenders from befriending celebrities. Further, it will be essential to assess the risks associated with the best decision. These solutions do not need scrutiny as they are automatic and lock out a considerable percentage of their customers. They can be implemented on a pilot site and results used to determine whether they are eligible or not.
The best decision so far is to apply input validation. This method has no risks whatsoever but is expensive as it requires new coding of the social network program. This means that programmers have to be hired and new facilities may be required. It may also be time consuming as the process might come with changes which affect the whole system.
Finally, making the decision involves implementing the choice decided upon. This can be done from the social network help centers and then implemented, mostly as an upgrade of the previous system. The sponsors, managers, and customers are informed of the renovation beforehand. The final product, once functional, is then advertised on their website and other related web pages.
