People to People Learning Lab

Up next is Erik Martin, the manager of the social news site Reddit, which acts as a "bulletin board" allowing users to post updates on social news and entertainment, while polling the posts based on popularity. In the tragic event of the "Boston Marathon Bombing", Reddit users began a hunt to identify the bombers. However, what started as noble deed began to transform in to a "witch hunt", affecting innocent lives in the process. Erik Martin recognized the negative impact this had not only on the individuals involved, but on social media as a whole and immediately released a statement apologizing,

"Though started with noble intentions, some of the activity on reddit fuelled online witch hunts and dangerous speculation which spiralled into very negative consequences for innocent parties. The reddit staff and the millions of people on reddit around the world deeply regret that this happened."


Erik Martin recognized that although we have the freedom to speech, we are still responsible for the consequences that result from our words. This also applies to everything said on social media, be it Twitter, Facebook or Skype. The fact is, that irresponsible social media conduct could potentially ruin your education and negatively impact your career, not to mention hurt others in the process.

Check out Erik Martin's blog below:

http://blog.reddit.com/2013/04/reflections-on-recent-boston-crisis.html