Don't get canned for Facebook comments
The Economist recently published an article, Lose Face: A tale of two airlines and their Facebook fiascos, detailing the recent firings of staff members over disparaging remarks left about customers and the airline on Facebook.
Virgin Airlines was the first to discover 13 employees making comments. According to The Economist, "crew members joked that some Virgin planes were infested with cockroaches and described customers as 'chavs', a disparaging British term for people with flashy bad taste."
Shortly after, British Airways followed suit and "began investigating the behaviour of several employees who had described some passengers as 'smelly' and 'annoying' in Facebook postings."
This is one of many examples of how what one says in what could be considered a private or invite only forum by a user could affect current and future opportunities. Anything posted online is a digital footprint that could follow you for a very long time. A good rule of thumb is to post what you would feel comfortable with others seeing - like your boss, future employer, grandmother or children. If you have to really think if it's appropriate, it's probably a good idea to not go there.
On the other hand, companies need to take responsibility for being very clear with their employees about the online policies towards posting information associated with the company. Companies should trust employees to use these tools appropriately, but they need to be diligent about monitoring what's being said out there on the social web and perhaps join the conversation when appropriate.
What's your take?
Photo: Fernando Peñ Arranged divx a
Related articles
- Virgin cabin crew sacked over Facebook comments
- British Airways' Staffers Ridicule Customers
- Liberate Media - Virgin Atlantic staff criticism: opportunity or threat?
Date: November 12th, 2008 / Author: Lindsay
Posted in Recruiting / Tags: British Airways, Facebook, fired, human resources, online reputation, social media, Virgin Airlines
3 Comments - Add yours!
Stuart Foster (November 12th, 2008)
This is a unique Public Relations problem for Virgin Airlines. On one hand you have to do something to discourage this type of negative behavior and press, however on the other hand you also have to allow for freedom and a lack of fear from your employees. I am sure that this problem is not local to just Virgin and it should be interesting to see how different companies run up against this in the future.
Lindsay Olson (November 13th, 2008)
@Adholes I like your Myspace and locker analogy. I too would have to agree. I’ve written about privacy settings in Facebook. There is nothing worse than when a friend tags you in a picture you wouldn’t want the rest of the world to see and unless you are using those settings properly, who knows who could see what before you realize it was posted.
@Stuart No, this is just one of the many interesting case studies I’m sure we will get to read about over time. Both Virgin and BA did this. A quick search for fired and facebook on google will pull a ton of interesting results.
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This blog is to share my recruiting experiences and discuss thoughts on the job market, PR industry and technology.
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience.
Adholes (November 12th, 2008)
The problem with how quickly communication on the Internet has grown is that there’s really no “how to” on what is or is not appropriate. When we grew up, our parents taught us to say “Hello” when we answered the phone. What do we do when someone who is a not a friend adds us on a network?
This also translates to our profiles. People view their profiles probably a lot like they might view their bedroom. Someone once equated a Myspace profile with the digital version of your high school locker. I think that’s very accurate. You’re posting notes, putting up photos, etc.
The problem is that this is a room or locker that anyone can walk into. Unless you know how to make you profile private, be prepared that people can and will find what you say. Managing your online identity should be the home equivalent of keeping your profile as clean as your living room, not the basement.
Even if you keep your profile private, who is to say that six months after you vented about work that a coworker might add you and you might have forgotten what you’ve written? There’s no limit to how long something can come back to haunt you.
As a blogger I’ve had people call me out on things they’ve dug up that I wrote in 2002. I may not even agree with 2002 me, but there it is, still available to be called out on.
Working in branding/marketing/PR, no matter what you do for your clients, the most important brand on will always be YOU.