Should a Person Be Fired for What They Say on a Social Networking Site?
Posted by | Tommy Liu | May 5, 2009 | What are Your Thoughts?
As I was leaving my friend’s place the television was on CNN where an interesting question was brought up, something along the lines of “Should a Person Be Fired for What They Say on a Social Networking Site?” I didn’t stick around for the debate, but I was thinking about it on my drive home.
On one side the argument goes, “It’s a conversation between my friends and I. The context here could be said in jest, so it shouldn’t be held against me if I make a joke at my company’s expense.” And of course someone somewhere will have to throw in “it’s freedom of speech,” which pretty much allows you to openly talk about killing someone if you so incline to. “What now? I can’t even complain to my friends that my higher-ups are a bunch of idiots? Because they are.” Sometimes people just need to vent and express it to a group of people in hopes of relating. That’s understandable. There are groups on Facebook for these people. “If I tell people on my social networks how great my company is and my company finds out I don’t get extra perks, but if the other way around I can get fired?! That is not right. If you thought what I said before was malicious you’re in for a storm!” I imagine employees to be pumped with passion and sarcasm regarding this issue.
On the other side of the argument it goes, “When something is posted to the web it’s not only between two or a few individuals it can reach millions, so in that regard any slandering of the company is bad PR especially when it’s from an internal source, which holds more weight. Taken out of context or not any form of defamation should not be tolerated because an employee is someone who represents the company even when they’re off the clock.” This is the response I imagine from a head at Google – very stern with legal jargon… YouTube will prevail!
Valid points can be made for both sides (which is why this is a debate), but I’m going to have to side with Google’s the company’s perspective on this one (this is my personal opinion and does not reflect Supercool Creative). Look at the Domino’s debacle – a foolish prank that’s going to cost the company thousands if not millions in damage control and sales for who knows how long. Employers check a person’s Myspace/Facebook as a factor to hire, so for it to be used as a factor to fire doesn’t seem like a stretch. The bottom line is be careful of what you say online; if you’re unfortunate enough to get caught leaving ill-advised comments that can get you canned, be prepared to suffer the consequences.
I wonder what those CNN guys had to say about this topic. Probably nothing as insightful and thought-provoking as what you just read. But more importantly, what do you think? Should a person be fired for what they say on a social networking site? Drop me a Tomment and let me know!
Supercool Creative is an ad agency specializing in online video creative & production, video seeding and integrated social media campaigns. Supercool Creative provides superior production quality, targeted viral marketing and relevant social media campaigns. Contact us: Supercool@Supercoolcreative.com.
Tags: cnn > dominos > facebook > google > myspace > social network > supercool creative > tommy liu > youtube
Comments
Leave a Reply
About
This blog is brought to you by Supercool Creative & SpotZero. Thanks for reading!
