The importance of context was demonstrated this week when a mobile phone photo of raw chicken outside a Green Hills restaurant went viral on Facebook.
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A passerby photographed a delivery of chicken pieces that was dumped on the doorstep of the Sing Hung Chinese restaurant.
The meat had been left uncovered and exposed to direct sunlight.
This was uploaded to the social media site and quickly shared 937 times.
An overwhelming number of Facebook users jumped to conclusions about the restaurant’s hygiene standards, instead of interpreting the image as what it was – evidence of a dodgy delivery.
Many commenters said they would never eat at the restaurant because of the delivery.
But these Facebook users did not take into account that Sing Hung’s owners were just as disgusted by the exposed chicken.
The angry commenters did not know that the chicken was immediately returned and deemed unfit to be eaten.
They didn’t bother to ask.
But this is one of the pitfalls of the speed at which information is spread via Facebook.
We receive content more quickly via social media, but it can also be far more hasty and careless in the interpretation of that information.
How deeply do you think about the posts you see on social media?
Do you judge every news report by its headline or dig deeper?
Do you take on face value the context of an image because of the accompanying remark?
Are you mindful of the posts that you share to your Facebook page?
The carelessness of the photographer in this instance, despite his possible good intentions, could have had grave impacts on a long-standing Maitland restaurant and the lives of its staff.
