I found this article pretty interesting. Most people agree that bad mouthing your boss on Facebook is a bad thing, but one woman is labeling her actions “free speech” and taking her company to court. Her lawyers are stating that under Union rules, employees have the right to discuss their working conditions, including their boss, without ramifications. I’m not sure I agree that her actions fall under this category….I mean, she made these statements publicly, that’s different than complaining about your boss over drinks or in the lunch room. Maybe social media behavior should be addressed at employee orientation from now on?
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sorry, it would be helpful if I actually posted the article….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101109/us_yblog_upshot/can-criticizing-the-boss-on-facebook-get-you-fired
Comment by ljulianello — November 10, 2010 @ 12:00 am |
I’m definately not a lawyer or anything so please excuse my lack of use of the right terms. I understand that you’re typically allowed to say things without ramifications about your working conditioins etc (with Unions typically) but isn’t bad mouthing your boss via facebook fall into the “slander” category. So essentially you’re commiting a crime against someone else?
Free speech is great when you’re talking about government or public figures and want to do so without any ramificaitons but I would think that it doesn’t excuse commiting a crime through said comments. Again, just using common sense here, not anything based on laws or reality I suppose.
Sorry for the rant, I just hate it when people use “free speach” as an excuse for “I forgot to edit myself”.
Comment by Ryan Goff — November 10, 2010 @ 2:19 pm |
Agreed! Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from the consequences! I really do wonder, though, if companies will begin to incorporate social media behavior in their code of ethics or whatever rule and regulations handbook they use.
Comment by ljulianello — November 10, 2010 @ 3:04 pm |
I agree with you, Ryan. Facebook is a public site with many security provisions and sharing options. Common sense dictates that if you would not say it for publication on the front page of your local newspaper, don’t say it on the internet.
Comment by Chris Arnold — November 10, 2010 @ 4:16 pm |
Well put, all – and this is why having a clear, “bottom up” social media policy is so important. People should use common sense, but we’ve seen so many examples of people from Steven Jobs to those college students in the Molson campaign NOT using common sense that this is obviously still a major issue in many organizations.
Comment by Claudia Kimbrough — November 10, 2010 @ 8:15 pm |
It’s an interesting thing, though, because just like email posts on Facebook aren’t something you can “pull back”. Once you’ve flung it out there it’s there for keeps. It’s also incredibly hard when you’re emotional to not type something stupid that is going to get you in a lot of trouble, as seems to be the case here.
That’s why I think you should have a breathalizer and heart rate monitor for your computer. That way if you’re drunk or stressed out/excited you don’t do something incredibly stupid by posting or emailing something that will get you in trouble. I think I saw something like that for your phone so you couldn’t make drunk dials…hah!
Comment by Ryan Goff — November 15, 2010 @ 3:12 pm |
“breathalizer and heart rate monitor for your computer”….LOL….
In terms of policy, this situation reminds me alot of what I hear on sports tv. College players at alot of schools aren’t allowed to use social media. I guess the coaches don’t think their players are responsible enough not to post inappropriate comments. I think they have this policy to avoid media backlashes.
Comment by cnkras — November 17, 2010 @ 12:25 pm |