When Facebook Sucks a Little

[adorable]

I am a manager with a staff of around 25.

I keep the lines very clear between myself and them. Even the appearance of impropriety can get you sued nowadays. I don't add anyone on my staff to my facebook - except my assistant cuz she's well, my assistant and we have worked together for years.

Most of my staff have facebook accounts and apparently all add each other.

A couple of days ago one of my supervisors went to my assistant and told her that one of the staff has been posting "things" on their FB about work. My assistant told me. I searched his name and sure enough I could see his wall.

Wow. Just wow. This mild mannered, seemingly shy person wasn't at all how they appeared to me. And had lots of opinions about the way things are done around here. lol. Now that type of bitching I have no problem with - I am used to people thinking they know better then I do. What I do have a problem with is that he's called in sick and sure enough - he was at concerts. The pictures are there for the world to see.

The other disturbing thing was the WAY that he was bitching. We have some pretty clear cut rules about the way things are done here. There are good reasons for them. He clearly violates the ones that he doesn't think matter. We are dealing with people's money. We are dealing with people. Lots of people. Lots of money.

I also found out that he is planning on moving in a couple of months. That was good to know.

I then PM'd him in FB and suggested that he change his privacy settings.

I have only read about this type of thing happening and people getting fired for it. I wouldn't fire him for it because....well he's leaving anyway apparently and the poor thing isn't smart enough to navigate his privacy settings. I also don't think it rises to the level of being fired over it either. Or does it?

Is it just stupidity? Don't we all or haven't we all called in sick (well back in the day when I had jobs where you could call in sick to) to go and goof off?

There are things that I like about my job and things I don't. I don't post things that I'm not ok with everyone knowing. When I'm having a bad day, even if it's work related, I am not going to post something that might keep me from getting paid tomorrow.


I am always saddened by disloyalty. It happens in a lot of different ways in management by people that you think you know because you spend so much time together. It actually happens outside of work with people you think you really know.

Anyway, he is here today. He is kissing my ass and not making eye contact. I think I was angry and now I'm just at that place of *sigh* if that makes sense. I feel like I need to address the rules issue with him and ignore the rest at the very least. There is a part of me that would rather just fire him. Then another part of me that is thinking - if I didn't know....ugh.


I'm not sure what my topic is but there has to be one in here somewhere.

[Rufusboi]

It seems like more and more people are getting into trouble over the FB accounts and do not realize either how to change the settings or forget that what appears to be their "private" bitching is not so private. You might even want to remind him or show him some stories of people losing jobs over their facebook bitch sessions. I think people just get too comfortable online and privacy, circumspection, and just good manners tend to go out the door. There seems to be this lack of understanding about repercussions. People feel they can say what they like, do what they like, and nothing is going to come back on them. Melissa teaches online and what students reveal in their intro bios is pretty schocking: addictions, mental health problems, marriage problems, kids, the personal problems of their kids, finances, lack of finances, I mean really personal and private stuff shared with a group of 20 or so classmates/strnagers who now know their name, personal details, what state or city they live in, how old they are. where they work etc.

Rufus

[NJFemmie]

You know, it's pretty common knowledge about the dangers of posting on FB. Maybe he wanted it to get back to someone. People do strange things without realizing it.

If my co-workers were added as friends to my FB, (and they most certainly aren't) I would not be posting a lick of anything to do with work or what I do in my spare time away from work. Not unless I want someone to bust my ass.

[Kobi]

A wise mentor once told me, decades ago, never put anything in writing....cuz someday, somehow, it will come back to bite you in the hiney.

Technology has brought us a long way, but our boundaries with it seem a little fuzzy. And the pitfalls for its misuse are growing.

I dont envy employers/managers who have to deal with the ramifications of it. Sometimes you are damned if you do and damned if you dont.

[Semantics]

I was reading an article recently about how many employers now ask about social networking sites while interviewing. The two most popular questions asked of applicants were:

Do you belong to a social or public networking site?

Have you made or authorized any other public internet postings during the past year of your name, image, or commentary? Do you have any concerns about the impact of these postings on your potential employers?



I know someone who was fired for using his work email address to post a comment on a news article. I don't blame the employer at all, and it just goes to show that we need to be careful with what information we put out there.

[adorable]

Originally Posted by Semantics

I was reading an article recently about how many employers now ask about social networking sites while interviewing. The two most popular questions asked of applicants were:

Do you belong to a social or public networking site?

Have you made or authorized any other public internet postings during the past year of your name, image, or commentary? Do you have any concerns about the impact of these postings on your potential employers?



I know someone who was fired for using his work email address to post a comment on a news article. I don't blame the employer at all, and it just goes to show that we need to be careful with what information we put out there.

I know someone who worked for the county that was fired for using the work computer to do personal searches. I consider myself lucky to work for the person that I do and have absolute freedom when it comes to those things.

Who we are is so complicated that I wonder if we can ask people to not be who they are in order to work someplace. How does that line get drawn? Who gets to decide?

It's making my head hurt.

I think that what I do for a living is a big part of who I am, but it's not the only part. Yet I do represent my company. Where does our life start and work stop?

[Linus]

Send him here: ReclaimPrivacy.org I've shared it on my FB and encourage others to do so. As for the degeneration of inhibitions online, well.. I could go on about that. But Facebook feeds into it. And don't get me started about the apps!

[suebee]

There was a case in my town where a fellow was jailed because he violated the terms of his probation. The probation officer found out because the guy posted pics on his facebook page of him drinking and smoking up. I mean.....honestly......how dumb do you have to be?

I was just now looking at this article on facebook privacy. This caught my eye: ".....the company's 5,830-word privacy policy. That, as the astute crew from The New York Times noticed, is 1,287 words longer than the United States Constitution."

Life is no longer simple. I keep my fb page as private as possible, and don't post ANYTHING that I wouldn't want to come out in court.

[JustJo]

I'm on facebook, and here (obviously...duh)....but I do both of those from my personal computer...never my work computer...even though I work from home and it's about 2 feet behind me at the moment.

My co-workers are not on my facebook account...on purpose. At one point I had "friended" a couple of co-workers, and saw quite a bit of those same things going on. Looked like trouble to me, and I "unfriended" and checked those privacy settings. I also never, ever, ever post anything about work on facebook...just cuz.

Not long after, my company came out with some very specific rules and protocols about social networking sites....evidently because a large number of both managers and their reports were friended on facebook and there was a big, ugly flap. I don't know the details....except that a few people were suddenly "pursuing opportunities outside of ***** ". Gulp.

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by adorable

I know someone who worked for the county that was fired for using the work computer to do personal searches. I consider myself lucky to work for the person that I do and have absolute freedom when it comes to those things.

Who we are is so complicated that I wonder if we can ask people to not be who they are in order to work someplace. How does that line get drawn? Who gets to decide?

It's making my head hurt.

I think that what I do for a living is a big part of who I am, but it's not the only part. Yet I do represent my company. Where does our life start and work stop?

Excellent questions!

Workers rights advocates have grappled with numerous issues like this over the years from a reasonable workday, to benefits, to drug testing, to non smoking environments, to threatening to fire smokers who only smoke in their own homes!

I havent any good answer. I think in our lives we have reciprocal relationships in all that we do. Mortgages require certain behavior from us or we face the consequences. Same with car loans.

I dont see much difference with employers. We enter into an employment contract with an organization agreeing to certain wages, benefits, dress codes, standards of behavior etc. Organizations make certain rules to comply with various regulations in addition to determining their own image, level of service, expected modes of eperation etc. The behavior of workers can reflect on the organization which sometimes is not a big deal but sometimes is a federal or state crime.

Technology has added a new dimension to the workplace. The organization I worked for kept adding to the expectations and consequences as technology improved, became more widespread, and better monitored.

I am gathering from what you said, you have the freedom to roam the internet on work time. In my organization, you would be warned about the inappropriate use of the internet on worktime several times before you were fired.

I suspect organizations implicitly set their own rules and requirements as a condition of employment. Is posting messages disagreeing with policies and processes in a public forum a violation or just poor judgement? Tough call. Depends on the organizational rules. Depends on the contract, implicit or explicit, that was entered into.

We dont live in a vacuum where anything goes. We have rules and regulations everywhere supposedly designed for the benefit of the whole sometimes at the expense of the one. We need to be mindful of the reciprocity involved in many aspects of our lives. Behavior has consequences for one reason or another, sometimes positive, sometimes not.

We are not, in my mind, totally free to do whatever we want whenever we want wherever we want to do it.

[betenoire]

Well, if he is trash-talking the company you both work for...I can see where that is fireable. Seriously. It makes (him and) the company look bad. I don't know what type of work you do, but I do know that regardless of what type of agency/company it is...trashtalk can effect people's decision to apply for a job at said workplace, and can also effect people's decision to deal with that agency/company. It can have long lasting bad effects on the company - and I'm sure if I were trash-talking my place of employment and my boss got wind of it....I would be gone.

I do draw the line where you hear stories of people being fired for stuff like posting drunk pictures or political rants on facebook (and livejournal, and blogspot, and myspace, and friendster, and and and).

I used to hang out with a guy when I lived in BC who was fired from his job (he worked for the schoolboard as an Educational Assistant) because he had posted drunk party pictures on his blog. I thought, and still think, that was such bullshit.

I do not talk about my job in public, ever. Not on facebook, not on the bus, not at a restaurant. Because you -never- know who is listening. If someone asks me about my job my responce is always about the same "I love my job and can't imagine working anywhere else and I feel very fortunate because my boss is -amazing- and my workplace is almost entirely drama-free. It's a nice environment to work in." (all of those things are true by the way, my job is fabulous) But never more specific than that.

[adorable]

Originally Posted by betenoire

Well, if he is trash-talking the company you both work for...I can see where that is fireable. Seriously. It makes (him and) the company look bad. I don't know what type of work you do, but I do know that regardless of what type of agency/company it is...trashtalk can effect people's decision to apply for a job at said workplace, and can also effect people's decision to deal with that agency/company. It can have long lasting bad effects on the company - and I'm sure if I were trash-talking my place of employment and my boss got wind of it....I would be gone.

I do draw the line where you hear stories of people being fired for stuff like posting drunk pictures or political rants on facebook (and livejournal, and blogspot, and myspace, and friendster, and and and).

I used to hang out with a guy when I lived in BC who was fired from his job (he worked for the schoolboard as an Educational Assistant) because he had posted drunk party pictures on his blog. I thought, and still think, that was such bullshit.

I do not talk about my job in public, ever. Not on facebook, not on the bus, not at a restaurant. Because you -never- know who is listening. If someone asks me about my job my responce is always about the same "I love my job and can't imagine working anywhere else and I feel very fortunate because my boss is -amazing- and my workplace is almost entirely drama-free. It's a nice environment to work in." (all of those things are true by the way, my job is fabulous) But never more specific than that.

Soooooo TRUE!! I do something similar because of the industry I work in. This is where I work today...if I ever want to work somewhere else talking shit about my current employer doesn't make my employer look bad and can really ruin future opportunities.

[theoddz]

I've always had a problem with putting my personal business out in public. I guess I'm just a private person about most things. Mother drilled that into me at a young age, I think. She still quotes a few things that I have never forgotten.

1. "Fools names, fools' faces...are always seen in public places."

2. "Save your money and don't tell your business."

3. "Keep your own counsel."

4. "Never put anything down in writing that you don't want to come back on you later."

5. "Large minds talk about places and things....small minds talk about other people."

6. "Sometimes, you don't need to know everything."

and finally (and BEST OF ALL)...

7. "Even a fish wouldn't get caught if it just kept its mouth shut."

My mother is a very wise soul. I'm glad she taught me well.

~Theo~

[Boots13]

Great topic!

I can relate to feeling frustrated over my interactions on social sites. I am overly reserved on sites because of my career. While it may seem I am distant, unwilling to engage or hesitate to call someone out, it is more aptly related to survival mode. I usually just stick to light hearted or surface types of interactions. If the sh*t starts hitting the fan in a thread, I excuse myself from the fracas. I continue reading, but my involvement takes a precipitous dive. Boots is MIA again.

We are vulnerable on all social networking sites.

[Nat]

Even with all your privacy settings turned on, my impression is that your profile pic, your name and your "liked" stuff is still publicly available?

I think earlier this century it was considered an invasion of privacy for an employer to look at your online activity but now I think googling and facebook checks are standard. I think the expectation of privacy is waning.

I have a facebook, but it's locked down and doesn't have my last name on it anymore. It's this weird convergence of family, friends and ex-coworkers, and a handful of long-term Internet friends.

I have wondered if facebook provides a means for covert hiring discrimination when it comes to orientation, gender, beliefs, culture or anything else not easily gleaned from an interview.

[Write14u]

Adorable,
As a person who also helps manage a staff, albeit much smaller than yours, I can understand your dilemma. I would definitely take him to task for the rules violations. That's something he has to do right and he put it out there in the open, so it's fair game. The rest ...eh....if he DOES leave, I'd let it be. If he hangs around, it might require a future talk.

And on to FB...
I've had it bite me in the ass, but not from anything work related. First off, I try not to post anything work related on mine, and I hold to some older rules of life, ie, not putting up anything I wouldn't want my mom to see. Yeah, well, I'm not always great at that. But I am conscious that my nephew and other family members are my "friends."
As for the workplace, maybe me and my profession are just weird. Our business is communications -- and we readily use FB for that. If they told us we couldn't FB at work, my executive editor would be the guy most hampered by it. We post links to our stories, to our paper's fan page.
My FB experience started out almost exclusively with co-workers and former co-workers and has grown to family and friends of friends and stuff like that. I love the liberal nature of my co-workers and that I rarely see more than token newpaper bashing (ie, yeah, the industry still sucks right now.) Believe me, when we took a 10 percent pay cut last summer, damn near everyone in the paper posted something in their status. *shrug* But nobody was getting fired over it. The higher ups knew we were getting it without lube.

Definitely a fine line with a lot of things, though. I've found I'm not easily searchable for some reason. Never meant for that, but oh well.

[Ebon]

Originally Posted by adorable

I am a manager with a staff of around 25.

I keep the lines very clear between myself and them. Even the appearance of impropriety can get you sued nowadays. I don't add anyone on my staff to my facebook - except my assistant cuz she's well, my assistant and we have worked together for years.

Most of my staff have facebook accounts and apparently all add each other.

A couple of days ago one of my supervisors went to my assistant and told her that one of the staff has been posting "things" on their FB about work. My assistant told me. I searched his name and sure enough I could see his wall.

Wow. Just wow. This mild mannered, seemingly shy person wasn't at all how they appeared to me. And had lots of opinions about the way things are done around here. lol. Now that type of bitching I have no problem with - I am used to people thinking they know better then I do. What I do have a problem with is that he's called in sick and sure enough - he was at concerts. The pictures are there for the world to see.

The other disturbing thing was the WAY that he was bitching. We have some pretty clear cut rules about the way things are done here. There are good reasons for them. He clearly violates the ones that he doesn't think matter. We are dealing with people's money. We are dealing with people. Lots of people. Lots of money.

I also found out that he is planning on moving in a couple of months. That was good to know.

I then PM'd him in FB and suggested that he change his privacy settings.

I have only read about this type of thing happening and people getting fired for it. I wouldn't fire him for it because....well he's leaving anyway apparently and the poor thing isn't smart enough to navigate his privacy settings. I also don't think it rises to the level of being fired over it either. Or does it?

Is it just stupidity? Don't we all or haven't we all called in sick (well back in the day when I had jobs where you could call in sick to) to go and goof off?

There are things that I like about my job and things I don't. I don't post things that I'm not ok with everyone knowing. When I'm having a bad day, even if it's work related, I am not going to post something that might keep me from getting paid tomorrow.


I am always saddened by disloyalty. It happens in a lot of different ways in management by people that you think you know because you spend so much time together. It actually happens outside of work with people you think you really know.

Anyway, he is here today. He is kissing my ass and not making eye contact. I think I was angry and now I'm just at that place of *sigh* if that makes sense. I feel like I need to address the rules issue with him and ignore the rest at the very least. There is a part of me that would rather just fire him. Then another part of me that is thinking - if I didn't know....ugh.


I'm not sure what my topic is but there has to be one in here somewhere.

EPIC FAIL!!!! LOL

[MsDemeanor]

Originally Posted by adorable

The other disturbing thing was the WAY that he was bitching. We have some pretty clear cut rules about the way things are done here. There are good reasons for them. He clearly violates the ones that he doesn't think matter. We are dealing with people's money. We are dealing with people. Lots of people. Lots of money.

I also found out that he is planning on moving in a couple of months. That was good to know.

He may be moving, but he's screwed himself with any potential employers who check his facebook page.

[Miss Scarlett]

It seems that many people, for whatever reason, are not very careful what they put on sites like Facebook and MySpace. We use info from those 2 sites, Twitter and several others as evidence in nearly every case these days. Employers, schools, etc. check people out on these sites and on the web all the time. I routinely check clients, opposing parties, potential witnesses, etc. for every case we take. I also check myself regularly to see what is out there and remove what I can.

Last month a young woman here in Charlotte lost her job because of what she posted on her Facebook page. She worked in a local restaurant and some customers stayed way past lunch, meaning she had to stay late and then left her a small tip. Needless to say she was annoyed and shared her feelings on her Facebook page.

According to the story in our local paper: "The managers at XXXXX called her in a day or two later, she says. They showed her a copy of her Facebook comments and told her she was being fired for violating company policy against speaking disparagingly about customers. A XXXXX official said she also violated a second policy against casting the restaurant in a negative light on social networks."

After this story ran it took on a life of its own (as seems to be the norm these days). Then the young woman complained, in the media, about all the media attention and asked for people to stop talking about it. An interesting request given that she was the one who contacted the media to report the incident in the first place. Wonder if she (or anyone else) learned anything from this?????

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/201...tress-her.html

[Medusa]

My BOSS friended me on Facebook about 3 weeks ago.

I havent friended him back yet and am feeling kinda guilty about it.