Does Social Media increase the Need for Security?
With everything being advertised and promoted online and especially through social media these days, its not hard to understand how things can quickly become talked up and over hyped. Good news travels fast and in a world with so much negative, most people will grab onto anything positive they hear and run with it. They want to be involved, they want to take part, they want to be happy. So they go and they seek these positive experiences.
Absolutely nothing wrong with this.
However, just as quickly as good news travels, bad news travels faster. The slightest hint of a negative connotation can travel like wild fire. What could be a complete misunderstanding could turn into a huge online back lash that can cost loss of jobs, and loss of business. It leads to hate, hurt, and potentially harm.
So while we all may run towards that glimpse of happy and positive, remember there are always the neigh sayers – the people that are maybe in a dark place and can’t handle see the light in others. Misery likes company right?
With this being said, does the influence of social media evoke the need for security? In a lot of cases – most definitely.
Anything that is getting attention online will most likely get attention in real life. And since there is always a good and a bad side, wherever you have a larger group of people congregating and coming together for any reason, you will most likely need to look at your security options.
Luckily, in most cases with social media, the number of ‘hits’ and likes and dislikes can almost be seen by anyone scrolling by. This definitely aides in an event or whatever the case may be’s popularity levels.
Anything with a higher level of attention should be handled as something that will most likely need the support of security or a security team.
Having security at an event isn’t a foreshadowing of things to come. It doesn’t mean that the people attending should be prepared for anything bad. In fact, the presence of security should help evoke a calmer, safe feeling. Knowing additional support is there to help is always a good thing.
In most of these cases, Security ends up almost acting as part of a Customer Service team. They’re there to oversee and help direct patrons. They’re keeping watch and stepping in while needed, and probably handling a lot of questions that may otherwise go unanswered had they not been there. As security is typically recognized as a safe and trustworthy person to talk to and take directions from, they’ll often be the first person to point out directions to people, places, and things (even the bathroom).
With the influx of social media, and the greater number of people traveling to see things, having some extra eyes to monitor venues, property, and people is important. Risks don’t always have to include mass causalities. Risks can be as simple as unsupervised children, accidental (or not) damage to property, over crowding, and anything else that may come along with a large group of people.
Once this large group attends and has a positive experience, they’ll go back and they’ll tell their friends. Who tell their friends – and so on. Which means as long as people continue having a positive experience and talking about it, the more people that are going to come back.
Ensuring the safety of everyone and everything there means that there is always something to come back too.
Staying a head of the hype is important, keeping up with it is important, and making sure you’re always on the good side of the news is what is most important.
Guest Blogger Rayna Davies
Rayna Davies is a graduate and practitioner of Business Management. She has developed an expertise in blogging, covering subjects like travel, world events and security. Having grown up with a father who has developed an expertise in Physical Security and Executive Protection in the RCMP and two major corporations, she has personally observed and 
experienced many security details. These experiences have included personally meeting HM Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and many celebrities. She presently assists Sentinel Security in Executive Protection workshops and guest blogging and also assists Gloprosec Preventative Services in Intelligence gathering and Business Administration. Her passions include World travel, having visited every continent.
