The reckless use of social media is causing so much ado in society that some think it is doing more harm than good.
To say that its advent has not been a plus for humanity would be attempting to turn truth upside down anyway. It is a fact however that it is creating as much goodness as its social inconveniences sometimes exposing the image of persons or entities to opprobrium.
Ghana woke up to a social media driven story about a school which produced a President for Ghana having students occupy a toilet as a dormitory.
The story was so outlandish and distasteful it expectedly trended on social media like wildfire during the harmattan season.
Unfortunately such stories trend wildly; after all people prefer reading about the unusual, and as they do, some of them fail to pose questions that question the integrity of such posts.
The cock-and-bull Ghanasco story was a typical example of a story which when it hit the social media space had the headmaster and the housemaster put on the spot. The court of public opinion did not treat the school officials kindly at all.
The education authorities swiftly ordered the headmaster to step aside so investigations can be carried out on the matter.
Without any intention to interfere in the matter now being audited as it were, we would hasten to point out however that, considering the testimonies of past students of the school which punctured the integrity of the story and coupled with the tendency for some persons to post stories with the intention of creating such outcomes, the attention of the authorities appears too harsh.
Be it as it may, we fold our hands and wait for the findings of the committee set up to delve into the matter.
Besides establishing the veracity of the allegation or otherwise, the main term of reference, it would interest the public to know the source of the said social media post which has caused so much mental anguish to parents, education authorities and Ghanaians in general.
With social media being a non-respecter of boundaries, the video has already made it on the international scene, the fallouts on our image being anything but good.
Even before the report on the investigations, we would not tarry to state our suspicion that it is likely that some students could be behind the social media post.
We are by no means condemning social media’s role in exposing anomalies in society, but when there is no issue and the goal is intended to undermine the integrity of individuals or entities, there is every reason to condemn such proclivity and to call for a certain level of regulation of social media lest it continues to harass us in varying ramifications.