In the 1970s if I wanted to tell someone something, I had to see them in person, call them on the phone, or write a letter. That information could then be passed on in the same ways. While the telephone could certainly get juicy gossip around fast, that wouldn’t go far.

Now, with the click of a button I can share a message or photo on social media and it can go anywhere instantly. It may go places I had no intention of it ever going.

Recently, I listened to a podcast that aired on NPR’s “Hidden Brain” on Sept. 9 titled “You Can’t Hit Unsend.” The episode discussed two people whose lives were changed by what they posted on social media.

One was Hungarian Peter Guzli, who took a photo of himself atop the World Trade Center and Photoshopped a plane in the background to make it appear as if the photo had been taken moments before 9/11. He said he did it as a joke to send to his friends.

However, those friends shared it with their friends, and now his photo shows up in all kinds of Photoshopped disaster images. He did not realize his photo would spread across the internet.

The other person was a high school student who had everything going for him. From a small town, he was accepted into Harvard in an early admissions program. As such, he was invited into Facebook groups for incoming students, and those students started their own private Facebook groups based on their own interests.

One of the groups was about memes (if you don’t know what a meme is, ask anyone under the age of 30). The meme group then started a sub-group for people who could post the most outrageous memes. The students just wanted to fit in and make friends.

They created memes that, if spread outside their group, would certainly be deemed offensive or in bad taste. But it was a closed group and they were all friends. They never meant to hurt anyone or have anyone see what they were posting; however, someone shared some of the memes with Harvard officials.

The next thing the young man knew, his acceptance to Harvard was withdrawn and for the next year he applied to 17 universities and was turned down before finding a college that would accept him. All this because something he shared on social media was shared more widely than he thought it would be.

What does this have to do with you and farming? Everything.

Public opinion can be easily swayed on social media. All it takes is a sad story or, even better, a sad photo. In this week’s issue, for instance, writer Stan Maddux talks about how a video sent out by PETA turned out not to be from a hog farm in southern Indiana as originally thought.

I saw that video posted all over my newsfeed a few weeks ago. It angered many of my Facebook friends who vowed to not support the pork industry. I doubt many of my social media friends will see the story that the video was a fake.

Recently, one of my Facebook friends posted a photo of a newborn calf that had been brought to her animal shelter. A man had been at a sale barn when 10 newborn calves were brought in with their umbilical cords on. The calves were sick. The man bought two, trying to save them.

He took them immediately to his veterinarian, who told him the calves had pneumonia and that they hadn’t been allowed to nurse from their mothers, so they missed out on the important colostrum they would have gotten, which was causing serious health issues. One of the calves died within the first 24 hours. The veterinarian told the man the calves were considered a “byproduct” of the dairy industry.

The man reached out to my friend, who runs a humane society, to see if she had any contacts who could help the surviving calf. She in turn reached out to a rescue, and they got to the calf to Purdue’s veterinary hospital – but not before taking some truly heartbreaking photos of a sick-looking calf. Everyone was repeating how the veterinarian called the calf a “byproduct of the dairy industry.”

I currently have 1,199 Facebook friends. If just a small fraction of them shared the photos and the story, you can see how quickly it could spread. Two of my friends posted they were giving up dairy after reading more about how calves were treated in that industry.

In the end, the calf died. It was given two plasma transfusions and IV nutrition. But the vets said because she hadn’t nursed from her mother, she had been set up for a harder battle.

Another animal welfare friend posted photos of a 10-year-old registered horse that was so thin it could not walk unassisted. It had been living on a farm, and people had been begging the owner to get help for the horse. A rescue finally went in and took the horse. After being near death numerous times after it was rescued, it finally began improving.

He had a beautiful face and sad story. His information quickly spread and a regional television station decided to do a story on him. Donations to save the horse poured in, and he was moved to Purdue’s veterinary hospital so he could be given appropriate supportive care.

Then came the news the horse had died; his intestines ruptured. Months of hard work and emotions quickly spread around this group of people. The horse died before its television segment ran, so the news was then spread via the television program as well.

Who are the villains in these stories? Farmers; that’s what everyone who saw and shared the photos said. Why is this important to you farmers who are not part of these stories? Because, social media doesn’t care. It just shares information.

That means we all need to be proactive in making sure our neighbors and others we might come across use the most humane farming practices. You need to be proactive in ensuring your social media feed reflects that the vast majority of farmers are not like those whose dying livestock are pictured.

As the NPR segment showed, a person’s entire life can change with the click of the “send” button … and it doesn’t even have to be true.

THE PHOTO of this sick calf was posted on social media after a man bought it at a sale barn. A veterinarian who tried to save the calf called it a “byproduct of the dairy industry,” and its story has been shared many times.

(Photo provided)