You put WHAT on the Internet??

Many years ago I read the following advice and I have to admit, it's stuck with me.

"Never put anything on the internet you wouldn't 

want your mum, boss or partner to see"

If your mum would be dismayed at you posting a picture of your one-night stand with the tag #bedofshame, if your mother-of-3 boss wouldn't see the funny side of your dead baby jokes and if your boyfriend would be unimpressed by you sending other men photos of your boobs then it's best you keep this sort of stuff offline.

There have been several news stories about people being caught out on Facebook; from cheating partners, teachers discussing pupils and folk pulling sickies due to hangovers. What your put on your profile is your business and you should have freedom of speech and expression but it's worth asking yourself whether what you're posting is going to get you in trouble. We've all seen this example:

If you want to call your boss a pervvy wanker, maybe you shouldn't do it on a platform where he's going to see it. Just a thought!

Yesterday I saw these tweets from somebody I follow:

Firstly it goes to show that the men I follow aren't desperate losers (give yourselves a pat on the back, guys) because until she posted those tweets I honestly didn't even know these things were happening. Secondly, she's right. Why should she have to see porno pics on her timeline because a sad-case is hoping he'll get to see a bit of nipple?

I'm not naive, I do know there is porn on Twitter - every other day I'm blocking yet another pornbot and we all had to reach for the eye-bleach after the Richard and Judy fiasco. But I had no idea that people are actually fueling the fire by RT-ing it. I wonder if they realise that the girls in question are probably people having fun at their expense. It's more likely to be someone who's found the photos online and is pretending it is their body. Seriously, there are more naked ladies on the internet than you could ever find the time to look at so why are you sending it onto other peoples news feeds? Obviously one of the wonderful features about Twitter is the fact you can just unfollow people but like the tweets above, it's a shame when you have to block contact with someone you like. I know my male (and some female) friends watch porn, it's not a problem, but they don't show it to me because I'm not interested and that's the way it should be.

Freedom of speech is so important but not everything needs saying. Sending threats of violence isn't exercising your rights, it only highlights the fact you're an idiot. These days anyone can be tracked down easily, either by what you've posted before, by your IP address if the police get involved or even by the online community - my personal favourite is when they found the guy at Burger King who had posted photos of himself standing in the lettuce. My Twitter account is in my name, not a pseudonym. I also have a very unusual name, there aren't likely to be any other Romany Scarlett Meehan's out there. Anything I say can be easily traced back to me and it's for that reason I'll never slag off my boss (although actually she's lovely so I would never need to), I'd keep things like that for when I'm at home.

So, next time you're thinking of posting something controversial ask yourself who might be reading and whether it's really worth it.