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How Facebook Can Get You Fired
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by a_strems | April 25, 2007 at 10:36 am
58754 views | 26 Recommendations | 15 comments
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With the boom of Web 2.0 and social networking sites, Facebook membership stats are exploding and MySpace is bigger than porn. Chances are, if you're reading this, you are plugged into the social web.
How hard is it to find information about someone? With a few clicks you can find someone's sexual preference, religion AND what they've been up to on weekends.
Of course this is fine when your friends see it, but what about current or prospective employers? Take these Ottawa grocery store employees as an example. By starting a club and commenting on their workplace, these dudes were out of work and out of luck.
Think it's just in the lower end of the job market? Think again. This time it was for slightly different reasons, but the outcome was still the same. Charlie Barrow was a trader for Goldman Sachs who spent far too much time on Facebook until the IT department ratted him out and he was out of a job as well.
What about calling in sick to work and going to a party or concert? Make sure to avoid digital cameras. Facebook isn't just for students anymore and there's a good chance that you've got co-workers as "friends". Get tagged shotgunning a Lucky Lager while you were "home with the flu" and you could be on some thin employment ice. The combination of your work life and your social life can come crashing together quite quickly.
It's also worthwhile to think about cleaning out your social networking accounts or changing your privacy settings before sending in an application for a new job - if you're coming out of a four year program, that's a lot of party pictures that your new boss probably doesn't need to see. That's pretty questionable on their part, but it happens. Here's a Stanford Daily article on it.
While your accounts keep you connected to the world, you might want to monitor how connected you actually are.
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starrchild (not verified)
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a_strems
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at 10:38 on April 25th, 2007
a_strems, great article. So social networking is indeed becoming the new porn, in that it can also get you fired! Remember: always have an Excel spreadsheet ready to toss up should a boss walk by. You didn't hear it from me.
at 10:50 on April 25th, 2007
Nice one, a_strems. Facebook has so many interesting real-world implications these days. Where will it go next, I wonder? Keep up the great work, you're a valuable NP asset.
at 11:39 on April 25th, 2007
In smaller societies where everyone knew our business, we tended to adopt "our word as our bond" attitude. We lost some of that when we urbanized, filtered through the "Me" generation. Now that we are starting to interconnect again, even if virtually, we should be aware that what we say and do is wittnessed by all. Perhaps this will lead to a kind of small town morality? after of course scores of us get burned for not paying attention.
at 11:40 on April 25th, 2007
PS. Good stuff.
at 11:56 on April 25th, 2007
I have now joined the group" I'm seriously considering deleting my Facebook account." Thanks a_strems!
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TheBeaton (not verified)at 04:20 on August 10th, 2009
So your solution to over-exposure through facebook is to Join Yet Another Facebook Group? Me thinks the plan needs revising.
Other than that, it is long overdue that these issues sees the light of day.
at 13:51 on April 25th, 2007
I like the piece, too. You wrote around other news stories without parroting them, nicely done.
HOWEVER, I have one bone to pick with this story: Where did you get that 85% percent number in the first sentence. That's a very bold statistic, but with no reference, it sounds as if you pulled it out of the air. Can you tell us where you snagged that number?
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a_stremsat 14:25 on April 25th, 2007
brock, now it's cited. check out the link. to clarify the stat: 85% of students in universities that had the service at least had a profile - http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/
at 18:14 on April 25th, 2007
Well, not so fast there. :)
Thanks for adding the source; unfortunately, the source was practicing sloppy journalism. The TechCrunch blog author didn't even pay attention to his own gathered facts. So, let's run them down and hopefully you'll make the correction in the main piece.
TechCrunch says this: "Facebook supports 882 colleges today - there are about 2,000 in the U.S. if you count community colleges. Their goal is to support all of these over time.
"The penetration rate is staggering - about 85% of students in supported colleges have a profile up on FaceBook. That’s 3.85 million members. Chris tells me that 60% log in daily. About 85% log in at least once a week, and 93% log in at least once a month."
The 85 percent figure jumps out, but the word SUPPORTED is the key. Facebook supports 882 colleges, of which, 85% of those enrolled in those schools have a profile on Facebook. However, that leaves 1,118 colleges (and all those enrolled in them) NOT a part of Facebook.
So, you see, it's just flat wrong to claim that "85 percent of all college students are on Facebook."
Now we're in a dilemma... we need to plug that gapping hole in the story, now that we've blown up the 85 percent figure.
How many college students are actually enrolled in the U.S.? Turns out there are 15.2 million of them. That figure comes from a report released by the American Council on Education. I dug up that study from a mention in an article in USA Today.
Here's the relevant information from the USA Today piece: "Minority enrollments rose by 50.7% to 4.7 million between 1993 and 2003, while the number of white students increased 3.4%, to 10.5 million, the report says." [And those two figures add up to 15.2 million college students, total.]
So, instead of a spectacular 85 percent, the real figure is merely a respectable 25 percent.
Please don't take my comments as trying to hammer on you; I actually think this is a really good lesson. First, it shows how important it is for all of us to really read the information we're sourcing. It's like that old conventional wisdom that came out of Reagan era White House when talking about nuclear disarmament: "Trust but verify."
Second, it's also a reminder that as citizen journalists we have to be as rigorous, or even more so, than the "real" journalists, because we're already carrying a burden of not being given enough respect by those in MSM. The point is, if we can't get a figure like this correct, how are we to be trusted to get even more important information correct?
at 19:13 on April 25th, 2007
Great article! I work as a career advisor at an art school, so I speak with employers all of the time. This is definitely true - companies even search profiles before students interview for their internships. I will say as well that the most common complaint I get from the companies is that students are constantly on MySpace - and it is not uncommon for them to be dismissed for that reason.
at 20:38 on April 25th, 2007
a_strems, I like this story. It's good stuff.
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Insan4IT (not verified)at 06:30 on January 4th, 2009
FB'll get people who are not responsible fired for not doing what they're paid to do (FULLSTOP).
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starrchild (not verified)at 10:19 on June 9th, 2009
Hahaha... how ironic. I also got fired because of facebook. I thought my company had shitty management... and it was true anyways...
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Sadmofo (not verified)at 17:13 on June 15th, 2009
I need help, I posted a comment on facebook, IT was purely a joke but I have been told I could be given the sack or be suspended. I really need help im deverstated please anyone??
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Charlotte Dean (not verified)at 10:17 on July 10th, 2009
Sadmofo - delete your posts - and do it regularly. The danger of facebook is that you feel free to express yourself - keep in mind that you are expressing yourself potentially to millions of people. I have experienced problems in employment over stuff I didn't even post. Someone assumed I must have said derogatory remarks and told management that - fortunatley for me, I hadn't - but imagine if I had....
I agree with those who believe its a private thing - if it didn't happen at work than it shouldn't be held against a person. consider all the possibilities for hackers, internet bullying, etc.