A Florida man who authorities say fatally shot his wife – and apparently then posted a photo of her body on Facebook – has been charged with first-degree murder. Derek Medina, 31, killed his wife Jennifer Alfonso, 26, on Aug. 8, and then posted a horrific photo of her lifeless body slumped over on the floor of their kitchen, covered in blood.
A post on Thursday morning on a Facebook page identified as Medina’s said: “I’m going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys miss you guys takecare Facebook people you will see me in the news.” A final post titled “RIP Jennifer Alfonso” was a photograph of a woman slumped on the floor.
The photo was up for more than five hours before Facebook removed the page late on Thursday afternoon.
A Facebook spokeswoman said in an email to the Associated Press that she could not comment on a law enforcement investigation but could provide a general comment from the company.
“The content was reported to us,” the spokeswoman wrote. “We took action on the profile removing the content and disabling the profile, and we reached out to law enforcement. We take action on all content that violates our terms, which are clearly laid out on our site.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/florida-murder-suspect-photo-facebook
The most interesting part of the story was Facbook’s reaction:
Facebook’s reaction shows that Facebook representatives are in fact watching what you are posting and control all of your content. Facebook immediately listened, took action, and called law enforcement officials to report the murder.
This was actually a positive PR story for Facebook to show Facebook & government officials working together. The sad part here is the number of “shares” and comments from the criminal’s friends and family in his social network. This is extremely disturbing.
“The Facebook Murder” raises the following thought- provoking questions:
Is there a real disconnect between what people are seeing online and the action they are taking?
Why did people feel this was a post to “engage” with, “comment on” and “share” rather then taking action and calling the police?
What is this really saying about our society?
Has our need to “over share” become out of control to the point where the first thing someone thinks of doing after murdering someone is posting it on Facebook?
Social Media Expert Kris Ruby Weighs in on WUSA9 in Washington D.C.
KRIS RUBY is the CEO of Ruby Media Group, an award-winning public relations and media relations agency in Westchester County, New York. Kris Ruby has more than 15 years of experience in the Media industry. She is a sought-after media relations strategist, content creator and public relations consultant. Kris Ruby is also a national television commentator and political pundit and she has appeared on national TV programs over 200 times covering big tech bias, politics and social media. She is a trusted media source and frequent on-air commentator on social media, tech trends and crisis communications and frequently speaks on FOX News and other TV networks. She has been featured as a published author in OBSERVER, ADWEEK, and countless other industry publications. Her research on brand activism and cancel culture is widely distributed and referenced. She graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a major in public relations and is a founding member of The Young Entrepreneurs Council. She is also the host of The Kris Ruby Podcast Show, a show focusing on the politics of big tech and the social media industry. Kris is focused on PR for SEO and leveraging content marketing strategies to help clients get the most out of their media coverage.