An $80,000 Tweet

As discussed in Chapter 6, new media writing requires increased attention to audiences and how audiences receive information. A tweet might be intended for just your followers, but those followers can retweet and quickly spread your message.

Such was the case for the daughter for former Gulliver Preparatory School head Patrick Snay. Snay was just awarded $80,000 in a settlement with Gulliver Prep for an age discrimination complaint. However, this agreement depended on confidentiality, that no one else would know about the settlement.

Enter Snay's daughter, who took to Twitter to voice her opinion on the confidential matter to her nearly 1200 Twitter followers:

Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.

The message quickly spread, and school officials found out about the confidentiality breach. As a result, the judge ruled the settlement could be cancelled, costing Snay the loss of the $80,000.

Read the whole story here:

Girl costs father $80,000 with 'SUCK IT' Facebook post

Unintended Audiences

Especially when discussing the possible readers of new media text, The New Media Writer has tried to point out that once an electronic text is sent by an author, it can easily be disseminated and used by others, often reaching audiences the original author never intended. As an example, take this email sent to news anchor Jennifer Livingston that comments upon her weight. Note how Livingston uses social media and mass media to disseminate the author's letter to a much wider audience, and then provides a counter to his (or her) approach.

You can read the full story here:

Bully Calls News Anchor Fat, News Anchor Destroys Him On Live TV