Will my status about Turkey Day save me from a crime?

In a recent New York Times article it was reported that a 19 year old man in Brooklyn was declared innocent because of a status on Facebook. He had been accused of burglary but since his status was written at the time of the crime, he was provided an alibi. His defense attorney had used this and other witnesses to prove that Mr. Bradford was innocent and had not committed the crime.

I really liked the article because it is an interesting idea to see that Facebook is no longer for entertainment of for people to improve their persona. Social networking sites are now becoming a part of life and the laws have had to change or mold around them. Lawyer can now use SNS to help with alibis or maybe for prosecution purposes.

The article gives more examples of other instances where an SNS was used to prosecute individuals or find evidence for further investigation or consequences.

Everyone at Hamline has told me to be careful about the things I put on my profile on Facebook because of my future. Until I became and NSM, I had not realized how important my profile was. The whole school can see my profile and what I put on there, negatively or positively influences my future. Jobs, internships and different positions can and will be put in jeopardy by the things I post.

In out class discussions on SNSs we all came to the conclusion that they were used for entertainment and to satisfy our needs and wants in a a fast way. Also my research topic is on the need for people, today, to be able to have an emotional shield when they lead their every day lives. Through text messaging and SNSs people will lead their lives in such a way that they can have relationships and a social life thorough a screen and never have to be hurt emotionally if things do not work out how they wanted them to.

I love my Facebook and I don't think I would ever part with it but after class discussion it made me realize that maybe I was addicted to it a little bit. So I tried to stay away and not update it constantly and not check on my friends at all times.

However, now that I have read this article, I'm not always going to rag on SNSs because maybe they can be part of our lives, as long as we have self control and know what we're getting ourselves into.

Next time when I update my status maybe I'll think about how it might be used as an alibi for a crime that I did not commit.