Sometimes people forget the Internet is a very public place. Even if you’re a successful CEO or famous person, you can forget sometimes. I came across this article that highlights 12 examples of social media errors that cost people their jobs. There are the more widely known examples, and then there are some less well known, but still good examples of things NOT to do on social media.
This is one of my favorites:
10. Rule: Never ‘friend’ your boss on Facebook
An employee of Nationale Suisse called out sick one day, claiming her work computer would aggravate her migraine. Of course, she was later “seen” posting messages to a friend’s Facebook page. A termination notice was added to her Facebook’s wall—so her migraine wouldn’t be affected by reading it at work.
With the wealth of social media monitoring tools out there, it doesn’t matter if you “friend” your boss or not; if your company is monitoring social media, this type of information can be easily found online. What makes it more interesting is when you use your real name – makes it that much easier to figure out who’s who.
In our social media monitoring adventures for our clients, we’ve come across some similar types of posts from employees, or who we think may now be ex-employees. We’ve seen things from lying about why they called in sick, to employees talking about their dislike for a company and encouraging their friends to shop at a competitor. As social media monitoring increases into a mainstream practice, employee and HR issues are sure to emerge. Keeping this in mind as you engage in social media will keep you from saying something that could cost you your job.
The other example brought to light a video I had seen a few months back, but forgot about. In case you haven’t seen it, you can watch it below. It’s a clip from the Today show in 1994 – Bryant Gumbel and crew were talking about the Internet. It’ll give you a good laugh, and realize how far we’ve come…
