The best advice is to not talk about work AT all and try to be positive whenever possible about everything else. You'll ruffle fewer feathers. And if you must vent, there's always the phone.
James F.
· 4 months ago
Lol.. wow at the comment history.. that's classic.
shows two things: 1) your boss is your boss whether in the office or not 2) everyone is able to take part in info sharing but this does not mean everyone is up to using media sensibly in public
Movie
· 1 month ago
I'm going to reply to the first as if you were a proponent of that belief. My apologies if you're not.
No, my boss is only my boss inside the office. When hired, I undertake a specific contract with specific limits; my workplace cannot decide anything else about my personal life outside of various legal/illegal issues. My employer is paying me to do work at the workplace; if they want to extend control to the rest of my life, they need to pay me for that time, too.
I don't have a choice on whether or not to get a job; capitalism is not a good thing. Neither is it a necessary evil - it is an evil that others force you into for lack of the ability to see and understand the world in a way that goes past defense and fear of retribution for the harmful actions they've taken against others. Another part of this is the arrogant refusal to understand the actual consequences and results of your ideology and actions - e.g., if you would stop someone from stealing food, you consider the loss of profit and property as more abhorrent than someone starving to death. This is not what most people think of when they consider their beliefs, but it is their logical conclusion. They do not exist in a vacuum.
Other than that, don't use Facebook at work. Don't friend your boss or coworkers. If you're rich enough to have a job that allows you to surf the web at work, you might try focusing your abilities on keeping it rather than being unable to shut your mouth. If you have to complain, focus on face-to-face interactions with people you know share your opinion on the subject, since the current culture breeds a rather vicious strain of what is almost anti-loyalty. Verbal communication, when not over the phone or another form of tech, is almost untraceable.
In general, don't be stupid and don't be a delusional douche. The world doesn't work the way your mommy and daddy told you it did; capitalism is a monetary aristocracy that accumulates over generations, not a happy-bunny meritocracy; and God hates you.
brian fanslau
· 4 months ago
Wow truly that is why you make sure you connect with people you care about and really know or want to know on Facebook. They have so much access into your life and your identity that if you are a private person make sure you keep your social profile private as well and focused with little actual contact information that someone couldn't simply show up at your front door and say "Hi I think I know you from Facebook!"
sally evanz
· 4 months ago
[irrelevant to discussion but why dont these comments show my twitter identity pic?]
shortformblog
· 4 months ago
Wow, that girl is such an idiot. Hope she had fun cleaning out her desk.
Jennifer
· 4 months ago
What is wrong with people? Are they melting their brains in the pub each night? If the exchange above is real, I am absolutely floored that someone could be so stupid - the employee for posting what she did with her boss on her friends' list and the boss for posting his reply - I would have fired him too...Unbelievable!
mike
· 3 months ago
The boss wasnt the problem. Its the shit for brain everything-revolves-around-me generation-entitlement kids that we have to choose from for a "worker pool" that is the problem. This girl is their poster child.
Alejandro Reyes
· 4 months ago
That's SOOOOO awesome!
Is this even real?
BrianReeves
· 4 months ago
I would have to send this one to UrbanLegends.com before I believe it...it is too perfect. Someone is first THAT stupid, her boss would have to be THAT obnoxious, and that stupid person would have to take a screen shot and forward it to Mashable to prove how stupid she really was. I don't buy it. So convenient to black out the names so no one can verify. My friend and I could simulate the same event and who could prove it wrong.
Articles like this vilify companies for acting in self defense. It's like a spam e-mail to boycott Target or Starbucks because they hate veterans. If you hate your job, quit accepting that great paycheck and join the millions of unemployed. Be a better human being and you won't have to worry about who is 'spying' on your publicly disclosed information in the Social Media Community...
Annie
· 3 months ago
The person who make the status update isn't necessarily the person who screencapped it. Check out lamebook.com It's a treasure trove of the stupid things people do and say on facebook that others grab and send in. After going through that site and seeing many similar TMI moments on my own FB home page, I totally believe that someone will do something that stupid online.
Silencio Barnes
· 3 months ago
@Annie...thanks - at work - got stuck on that lamebook site for like a good hour and a half :)) I liked it so much...I'm gonna blog about it :P
Silencio Barnes
· 3 months ago
Yea, so I wrote up something quick and showed a few of the pictures I liked - it's nice having a job with some downtime every now and then :P
That site seems to have been hacked or this is a set-up for ADware.
serenae
· 4 months ago
I often wonder how many of these people actually violated existing company social media policies and how many of these companies actually have a written social media policy.
In many cases, there are no policies in place until an employee crosses the line.
If you don't have a policy, write one before it's too late.
(We found that 66% of responding companies had formalized a policy for acceptable use of social networking sites.)
Brad F.
· 4 months ago
Saw this floating around Twitter this morning. I LOLed, then I posted it to my Facebook.
yaelbeeri
· 4 months ago
I think we will see less of this, as more and more companies embrace social media as part of their strategic plans and "use" their employees to leverage their brand, products, offers etc.
Michael Bauser
· 4 months ago
Really? Because I think we'll see more and more of this as companies realize it's easy to replace stupid employess when the U-6 rate is over 16%. Corporations usually get meaner to employees during high unemployment periods.
mike
· 3 months ago
Embrace? Not my company. You're not allowed to be on any social media outlets and we continually check. Dont like it - work somewhere else.
Genjinaro
· 4 months ago
What idiot friends a Boss, manager, or current-coworker? Really now thats the worst thing you could do, ever...
No one in the workplace should ever see or know what your page looks like, grouping should be used in full and privacy should be at maximum...
Michael Bauser
· 4 months ago
I have to friend my co-workers. If I don't, how will I ask them "What happened?" when they get their asses fired for doing something stupid?
Mark
· 4 months ago
no mention of the 'tards at Denny's firing me because I had created an "authorized" stream on Twitter?
Mark
· 4 months ago
whoops, that shoould have read "no mention of the 'tards at Denny's firing me because I had created an "unauthorized" stream on Twitter?"
so who'se the 'tard now?!
Tapani Jalonen
· 4 months ago
Turn this around. You can use fb to smother execs: oops, sorry I forgot you were on my list.. well, do you still want to join my cause, "support offshoring" :)
themaria
· 4 months ago
That's one of the funniest FB exchanges I have ever seen. I think it's a pity that corporate America is monitoring SM usage like it's some kind of evil thing. Embracing SM and empowering employees to use it properly could be huge. However, examples like these don't inspire a whole lot of confidence. I still do think that upper management needs to set direction in a more productive way than wrist slapping.
swag
· 4 months ago
Uh, grow up, girl. If you work for a public company, what an employee publishes about it can get it into hot water with the SEC. Anyone who thinks all information should be public is lacking a clue.
DealShouter
· 4 months ago
That facebook exchange between an employee and her boss is a true classic. Can't believe how dumb some people can get and also how much information they are willing to put out there. Facebook isn't for everyone.
Dev
· 4 months ago
I guess an enterprising attorney could see that as a retaliatory act in return for an individual exercising her First Amendment rights. Most of the commentators here, and corporate America in general, have forgotten that. Of course it just reflects that fact that you seem to leave America behind and enter a foreign dictatorship as soon as you step into your office building. We can criticize the President, anyone remember that?
I can't believe the stupidity of the people "LOLing" at this. You should be outraged, not amused. The girl didn't even name her boss! I am waiting for Congress to pass laws that will punish over zealous bosses and their employers for such behavior.
That said, I also have to say that it is not polite to bad mouth anybody, boss, coworker or whoever, in such a public way on a public forum. So the girl shouldn't have done it. But that doesn't in anyway whatsoever condone her boss' reaction. I hope that boss and the company is dragged to court and made to pay a lot of money.
Annie
· 3 months ago
Come on. Really? What she did was as if she loudly bitched about her boss to her friends in a social setting while forgetting that her boss was still in the room. She posted something that shows up on her boss' friends page the second he logs in. He didn't go digging for it, and she was still within her trial period at a new job, and it sounds like she wasn't doing very well at her job to begin with and this was just the final straw.
Guest
· 1 month ago
And if you did loudly bitch about your boss in a social setting with your boss in the room, can your boss fire you for that? You have heard of EEOC, right?
Matt Leonard
· 4 months ago
Has anyone noticed that the survey is of companies with greater than 1,000 employees? How many things do you think companies of that size have fired people for? I'll bet 8% have fired people for stealing other people's leftovers. Way to manipulate the numbers to make a story.
Rachel
· 4 months ago
I don't post anything negative about my company or my boss on FB. For the most part I like my job and my boss - we all have those days. Any issues he and I have are discussed amongst ourselves. I know when he is upset with me and he knows when I am upset with him. Yes, he is my FB friend but we are about the same age and have stuff in common. Not all the execs in the company are my FB friends. Most are not.
I also have a few parts of my page blocked from my boss but I am aware that someone can make a screenshot and send it to him whether or not he is my FB friend. I also do not post stories about the company (positive ones) until I know they are officially out in the press, just in case it's still privileged info. For the most part as far as my company is concerned I am a mini-PR machine. I love our product. That is why I have always wanted to work here. The product I am not very fond of, I ignore.
What I worry about is if posting what I think of Saint Paul the Apostle or other sensitive topics can get me in trouble. It's not like I work for a church and as far as I know my boss is not uber-religious and knows I have a big mouth; however, I am not sure where the line between personal and professional ends anymore.
Last November before I culled my FB friends list, I saw one of the people in HR post that she did not know if she would be able to speak to someone if she knew they had voted for (or was it against) Prop 8. I thought that was a bit unprofessional coming from HR but its a valid opinion as is the flip side.
My question is basically, what can one be fired for? Talking smack about the company makes sense but a sensitive PERSONAL opinion, unprofessional or not should not impact your job one way or another.
bhartzer
· 4 months ago
I bet it's a lot higher than 8 percent. If they're misbehavin' online, then I wonder what they're doing while they're "working". Social media just makes it easier to "catch" those who are misbehavin' anyway. And they probably shouldn't have been working for those companies anyway.
Jim Mitchem
· 4 months ago
Would be nice to know what percentage of new hires for companies was the direct result of social media, too.
Ex-Vegan
· 4 months ago
Yes, she was a twit to post stuff about her job on her Facebook profile. BUT the boss's response was much worse than what she did. He should have taken the high road and talked to her IN PRIVATE, and he should have been disciplined by HIS boss for misuse of social media (in private, of course).
Asif Youssuff
· 3 months ago
Maybe he doesn't *have* a boss.
Asif Youssuff
· 3 months ago
The smart thing here is really just to have an SSH tunnel or remote desktop/vnc/nx etc out of the spying eyes of your corporate overlords.
Obviously, if you are posting stuff on the open web, stuff may come back to bite you though.
Martin Meyer-Gossner
· 3 months ago
OK, negative news is good news: So, 92% kept their job though being a "social median"... It is time to hear some positive statistics... i.e. how many people found a job via social media, how many companies recruit via social media or if bosses complimented someone for their social media activities. Isn't this the right approach to find employer's acceptance and respect for social media - and make it presentable in the decision makers level?
Jamie Favreau
· 3 months ago
I guess this girl made it into Mashable and got fired. So does she officially make it into the Social Media Hall of Shame?
Teach
· 3 months ago
I would have fired her as well. How appropriate.
Strepsi
· 3 months ago
RE: "unless you’re absolutely sure both your privacy settings and IT setup make sure that whatever you’re saying will only be read by its intended audience." Um, not even then. Anything you are doing on a company time on a company computer is part of your corporate communications and is owned by your employer. Owned. Email too: I can't tell you the number of people forwarding questionable jokes on corporate email accounts -- that is part of your communications record. So the only real answer is... NEVER. Never at work. Never.
everyday hero
· 3 months ago
All you corporate jocks sucks ass...always picking on the little guy. Well suits suck! Now twit that you twits!
Sara
· 2 months ago
People like that REALLY irritate me!!!! If you don't like your job: QUIT!!! I for one and working my butt off to find work, and haven't gotten a job yet! I'll take your job if you don't want it! Instead, people are hiring morons like that to work and leaving people who WANT to work and who are willing to work their rear ends off at work, in the cold! Some of us go into work, work hard, and stay away from social networking sites while at work...but so far I have only seen people ON facebook, etc AT WORK! Don't you know what going to work means? It means stop the socialness and actually DO your job in the time that is allotted to you. You can socialize AFTER work!!! STOP complaining about how much you hate your job...find a new one or quit!!! (obviously this girl may NEVER get a job again! at least she shouldn't!!!) I am so sick of people complaining, when there are ENOUGH people out of work right now who NEED jobs! I think I can speak for everyone who is out of work: WE'LL TAKE JOBS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT THEM!!!! and a note to employers: stop hiring stupid people who aren't willing to do their jobs and just want free money...some of us STILL do have a work ethic!
Ricky Maveety
· 2 months ago
Interesting, but using an example of really poor judgment by a girl in the United Kingdom is maybe not the best idea in an article about business in the United States. I mean, they are different countries after all.
All Comments
James F.
TwitterBackground.com - #1 Source for Free Twitter backgrounds
2) everyone is able to take part in info sharing but this does not mean everyone is up to using media sensibly in public
No, my boss is only my boss inside the office. When hired, I undertake a specific contract with specific limits; my workplace cannot decide anything else about my personal life outside of various legal/illegal issues. My employer is paying me to do work at the workplace; if they want to extend control to the rest of my life, they need to pay me for that time, too.
I don't have a choice on whether or not to get a job; capitalism is not a good thing. Neither is it a necessary evil - it is an evil that others force you into for lack of the ability to see and understand the world in a way that goes past defense and fear of retribution for the harmful actions they've taken against others. Another part of this is the arrogant refusal to understand the actual consequences and results of your ideology and actions - e.g., if you would stop someone from stealing food, you consider the loss of profit and property as more abhorrent than someone starving to death. This is not what most people think of when they consider their beliefs, but it is their logical conclusion. They do not exist in a vacuum.
Other than that, don't use Facebook at work. Don't friend your boss or coworkers. If you're rich enough to have a job that allows you to surf the web at work, you might try focusing your abilities on keeping it rather than being unable to shut your mouth. If you have to complain, focus on face-to-face interactions with people you know share your opinion on the subject, since the current culture breeds a rather vicious strain of what is almost anti-loyalty. Verbal communication, when not over the phone or another form of tech, is almost untraceable.
In general, don't be stupid and don't be a delusional douche. The world doesn't work the way your mommy and daddy told you it did; capitalism is a monetary aristocracy that accumulates over generations, not a happy-bunny meritocracy; and God hates you.
Is this even real?
Articles like this vilify companies for acting in self defense. It's like a spam e-mail to boycott Target or Starbucks because they hate veterans. If you hate your job, quit accepting that great paycheck and join the millions of unemployed. Be a better human being and you won't have to worry about who is 'spying' on your publicly disclosed information in the Social Media Community...
http://silenciobarnes.com/social-networks/lameb...
http://silenciobarnes.com
http://twitter.com/silenciobarnes
http://www.lamebook.com
In many cases, there are no policies in place until an employee crosses the line.
If you don't have a policy, write one before it's too late.
Serena
www.startuparmy.com
http://www.proofpoint.com/outbound
(We found that 66% of responding companies had formalized a policy for acceptable use of social networking sites.)
No one in the workplace should ever see or know what your page looks like, grouping should be used in full and privacy should be at maximum...
so who'se the 'tard now?!
Facebook isn't for everyone.
I can't believe the stupidity of the people "LOLing" at this. You should be outraged, not amused. The girl didn't even name her boss! I am waiting for Congress to pass laws that will punish over zealous bosses and their employers for such behavior.
That said, I also have to say that it is not polite to bad mouth anybody, boss, coworker or whoever, in such a public way on a public forum. So the girl shouldn't have done it. But that doesn't in anyway whatsoever condone her boss' reaction. I hope that boss and the company is dragged to court and made to pay a lot of money.
I also have a few parts of my page blocked from my boss but I am aware that someone can make a screenshot and send it to him whether or not he is my FB friend. I also do not post stories about the company (positive ones) until I know they are officially out in the press, just in case it's still privileged info. For the most part as far as my company is concerned I am a mini-PR machine. I love our product. That is why I have always wanted to work here. The product I am not very fond of, I ignore.
What I worry about is if posting what I think of Saint Paul the Apostle or other sensitive topics can get me in trouble. It's not like I work for a church and as far as I know my boss is not uber-religious and knows I have a big mouth; however, I am not sure where the line between personal and professional ends anymore.
Last November before I culled my FB friends list, I saw one of the people in HR post that she did not know if she would be able to speak to someone if she knew they had voted for (or was it against) Prop 8. I thought that was a bit unprofessional coming from HR but its a valid opinion as is the flip side.
My question is basically, what can one be fired for? Talking smack about the company makes sense but a sensitive PERSONAL opinion, unprofessional or not should not impact your job one way or another.
Obviously, if you are posting stuff on the open web, stuff may come back to bite you though.