Wake Forest communication professor and social media expert Ananda Mitra says Hillary Clinton's "It takes a village" statement must extended to include social communities — especially Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — if there is any hope of preventing massacres such as the recent tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
Mitra examined Adam Lanza's Facebook page and noticed that photos and other interests shared between online friends should have raised questions if family members had taken time to look at Lanza's connections.
"If you lived in a family, you would want to know if someone is struggling with a problem," says Mitra. "It is not policing or invasion of privacy to act when you see something disturbing posted in the public domain. Parents especially should take time to look at their children's pages and take action when needed. Facebook users must start drawing connections between the online and offline worlds. These two universes are not disconnected."
Mitra’s expertise makes him the go-to person for the latest trends in social media and how “narbs” — the personal details such as residence, age, sex and interests that users reveal on social media sites — can be used to help learn about people in the real world.
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