Jordane Delahaye, Gleaner Writer

According to Internet aficionado Clay Shirky, contemporary society has experienced a drastic transformation in the media landscape with the advent of new media. Today, the expressive capability of every individual and their ability to disseminate information to large groups and receive feedback - all instantaneously - has been significantly bolstered when compared to previous eras.

For those who are constantly in the spotlight, this can be both a blessing and curse.

Social media forums like Facebook and Twitter provide fans and celebrities with a quick and relatively easy way to communicate with each other, but this is not always a good thing as the information being disseminated could be harmful and nothing is ever truly removed from the Internet - even after you click delete.

This fact was reiterated by marketing guru Tara Playfair-Scott, who engineered LIME's social media model. Playfair-Scott told The Gleaner that she doesn't believe that social media can end an artiste's career but it can do sufficient damage if used incorrectly.

The com-munications consultant says things like getting into arguments on social media sites or posting comments or images without giving serious thought to the implications could get artistes in trouble with fans or organisations.

"Social media is extremely important for artistes and companies alike as it provides real-time feedback on what it is they are putting out there," Playfair-Scott said before stating that she doesn't believe that social media's full potential is being exploited.

According to Playfair-Scott there is a lot more that artistes can do in order to use social media to push their brands but integral sites like Twitter are mainly being used for personal use.

Rising talent in the Jamaican music industry and avid social media user Denyque, says that it is not always a good thing for artistes to divulge too much of their personal life on these social media forums as she says fans are not always able to differentiate between the stage persona and the actual person.

"It can be important in helping fans to get to know you better and build a relationship with you but it all depends on the information that is being divulged," Denyque said.

"One of the best things about social media is that it really connects me to people across the world. A lot of my peeps are from far off places in Asia and Africa and social media definitely played a big role in me making my debut on the African continent last year," Denyque added.

One Jamaican artiste who has had firsthand experience with the ill-effects of social media is Bruck It Dung singjay, Vegas. The artiste could not be contacted for comments, but his recent scandal with the mother of his child which became a hot topic on Facebook on Twitter is a clear demonstration of how not to use social media.