As membership in social media sites such as facebook becomes increasingly commonplace (I mean, who DOESN'T have FB? OK, my parents for one ... but they have trouble finding the power button on the computer. That's another story entirely), people are faced with a whole new world of social/work-related dramas that begin with stupidity on FB. It's not a brand new issue of discussion, but yet another story has arisen about conflict beginning from a facebook post:
A Knoxville marketing firm has filed a $2 million libel lawsuit against a former client claiming comments posted on social media sites Facebook and Twitter have hurt its reputation.
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According to the suit, [Pizza Kitchen owner] Redmon defamed the marketing firm in two Aug. 17 Facebook entries that said, "Do not EVER use Lowandtritt mktg. firm!" and "CROOKS! - Stolen email list, and have tried to pressure me by threat of lawsuit to sign a 'license agreement' to use their mktg materials."
Social media has added a very personal dimension to the eBusiness world-- a dimension where professional and private lives have significant and unavoidable overlap. A personal rant intended to be shared with friends and family could lead to costly consequences. Ten years ago-- maybe even five years ago-- such a problem did not exist. To think that you could be sued or fired for blowing steam off... I mean, I'd be fired 10 times over if this was actually the case. We all rant, we all rave: it's how we maintain some semblance of sanity. But today's connected world requires a certain amount of discretion.
Remember that girl who was fired over facebook because she complained about her boss in a status update, and he was he FB FRIEND?! Here's the image, if you missed it:
That's just stupidity on her part. I mean, come on. Be aware of who you friend. And draw some kind of a line between your professional and personal life: i.e. don't friend your boss if you don't want him/her to see your private life, especially if you're the kind of person who blasts your personal issues on FB (you know who you are ... with your emo status updates [Jane is he broke my heart, i dont need u anymore, im not waitin for u] ... GET. OVER. IT.)
Use a site such as Linkedin if you want to effectively use social media to benefit your professional life. Or, tailor your facebook profile and adjust your privacy settings so that you keep your dirty laundry hidden from your gossipy coworkers' prying eyes.
