VOSA Facebook
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Whatever you might think of social media, especially Facebook, there’s no doubting its reach and therefore its impact. The first time Facebook gained any notoriety in the business world was in the UK construction industry four years ago disgruntled staff of a major contractor set up a Facebook page to have a pop at their employer.
Within weeks, there was a page for every major contractor, with staff posting their pet peeves; within a month or two every major contractor banned their staff from accessing Facebook at work. But internet geeks are usually cleverer than those trying to police them, and ultimately outwit their pursuers. So this week’s story about VOSA using Facebook to target drivers who flout the law (p8) has produced some wry smiles at CM. While the VOSA Watch Facebook page may have been set up with the best of intentions, it’s clear that some drivers are using mobile devices while driving, and that some (by no means all) are using the site to tip others off as to VOSA officers’ presence at the roadside. There’s a delicious irony that those seeking to avoid the law by using social media should be so well and truly snookered by VOSA logging on to their site.
We don’t see this as a nanny state issue, nor a case of personal liberties being infringed: simply if someone is silly enough to reveal on a website that they are committing an illegal act, then they deserve everything they get.
Live by Facebook, die by Facebook (or at very least be convicted by Facebook). Well done VOSA.
Justin Stanton