The risks of social media in Qatar

In a society that relies heavily on first impressions and public image, social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram can come with a lot of risk. Exposing the world to your personal views and activities can be political, even without intention.

Believe it or not, social media has led to job terminations, wedding rejections, or simply a button titled “unfollow”, “unfriend” or “block”.

I hate to see anyone personally limiting his/her freedom of expression, but unfortunately it becomes a reality that we must restrain ourselves if our accounts are not private.

We all saw the backlash against a flight attendant who was holding Abayas after the landing of a Qatar Airways flight in one of the terminals in Europe. This post resulted in the suspension plus investigation.

At first I felt bad, but after giving it some thought it was very stupid of him to post something like that, let alone consider posing for a picture that will destroy the image of a specific culture during his shift, while wearing his official uniform!

Here’s a piece of advice, if you want to continue to post freely 100% on social media, make sure that you never associate yourself with your source of income.

It is very easy to damage yourself, especially if your job description is on the frontline of where you work.

I would totally understand why the biggest airline in the world would terminate an employee for posting something that could be interpreted as offensive to millions of people across the world... or even more.