Digital Smarts - Your Photo is About to Go Viral – Pros and Cons

Perhaps you have heard about the Alex from Target story. A picture of Alex, a 16 year old from Texas, went viral recently after a teenage girl from Britain randomly came across a Tumblr photo of him that had been taken surreptitiously. She posted it on Twitter, and within hours, Alex’s Twitter followers went from 144 to hundreds of thousands. At first, Alex’s newly found fame got him an interview on the “Ellen” show and offers to appear on other talk shows, but the positive side of this new notoriety did not last long. Alex now says he can barely go outside for fear of being accosted. Online, thousands have taken to social media to call Alex names (including vulgarities) or fabricate stories about him being fired. Twitter is littered with posts that denigrate his looks (e.g., “Alex from Target is so damn ugly”) or spew envy at him (“Alex from Target is a nobody who doesn’t deserve fame”). There have even been dozens of death threats on social media and in private messages (“Alex from Target, I’ll find you and I will kill you”) and people have leaked the family’s personal information online, including Social Security numbers, bank accounts and phone records. Alex’s family, who has had to meet with school and police officials about emergency plans, will now have to help him through this very new kind of teenage crisis. In the meantime, this offers an interesting opportunity to discus with your children the pros and cons of “going viral”. Take a look at 9 Rules for Keeping Your Photos Safe Online for tips on how to keep this situation happening to your family.