Summary: There are grave consequences for behaving badly on social networks. Becoming unemployable may be the least of them.
This week, I wrote an article about the how the handling of personal data in the private industry, not the surveillance programs of the NSA, is far more of a pressing threat to infringing the privacy of day-to-day lives of the average person.
If you haven't managed to read the entire post, here's really the crux of the entire thing:
... I am concerned about how our online presence and day to day interaction on social networks could potentially influence our ability to be insured, to secure loans, et cetera, due to potential monitoring by the corporations we do business with and are responsible for life-changing decisions that are not under our direct control. We should also expect and be fully aware that the social networks we participate on are monitored by employers. I personally know not to harass people nor represent myself or my employer in such a fashion that would have a negative impact on my employer, and thus could result in my termination. Constant vigilance is going to have to be required in terms of always having to keep up our appearances and to be on our best behavior. Big Brother isn't the Government. It's your Human Resources department.
I have always been of the opinion that when it comes to using social networks or participating online in any fashion, there is one simple rule: DON'T BE STUPID.
One would think that this is a very fundamental thing and something as universally understood as the Ten Commandments, or perhaps even more simple as the actual Golden Rule itself, but maybe we should have it etched in stone just so nobody forgets it.
Oh wait, we don't engrave stuff into stone anymore, but we have hashtags. Like #HasJustineLandedYet.
There are probably a zillion more thought pieces that go far more into the gory details of the story of what transpired on Friday if you are actually interested, but basically, it happened like this.
Justine Sacco, a woman with only 200 or so Twitter followers, who was employed as the head of Global Public Relations at IAC, a large Internet content property holding company, decides before going on a long transatlantic flight from London to South Africa, to flippantly Tweet something incredibly callous and racist that she almost certainly felt had no personal consequences for her.
The tweet, which is noticed by a follower and then sent on a slow-news Friday before Christmas week to an editor of the online publication Valleywag, spins out of control and quickly spawns a day-long angry mob effect on Twitter and a source of negative attention for her employer, which then distances itself from her statements as it goes into crisis control.
When Sacco finally lands in Johannesburg, she finds not only that she's been terminated, but people are waiting for her so they can record her reactions.
Deserved or not, the embarrasment for this young woman has been devastating.
Justine Sacco has learned a horrible lesson that she probably didn't have to if she had understood one thing, which is on Twitter, there is no 'not being noticed'. Even if you only have a few followers, the chances of a flippant politically incorrect joke or statement can backfire very quickly.
Ms. Sacco probably had a much higher chance than the average person of being noticed simply because she had a high profile job in public relations. So the stupidity amplification factor here had perfect storm potential.
I'm not saying all of us harbor racist thoughts, but every single one of us has the potential to be a Justine Sacco if we aren't careful. The very same politically incorrect stuff we say to friends and others in close company without any thoughts of consequences attached to them has massive potential to unravel our lives if we utter the same things in a social media setting.
And yes, we all are guilty of saying politically incorrect things to people in close company. Myself included. We're human beings, we drink alcohol, and we get too comfortable with our surroundings.
Twitter and services like it are powerful tools for companies and individuals to promote their brand, but at the same time, it's also a very powerful tool to sink your brand in the toilet if you say something stupid.
Here's the litmus test of whether or not you should say something on Twitter: If you aren't comfortable screaming it out of the top of your lungs in the middle of a public square, or at the very least, saying it during a toast during the middle of a crowded holiday cocktail party at the office, where every single member of upper management and all your co-workers are staring right at you, then don't tweet it.
Your employers are watching your tweets. Your future and potential employers are going through your old tweets. Your extended social groups are watching your tweets.
Everyone is watching your tweets. Got it? Good.
Losing your job as a result of saying something on Twitter is awful. However, becoming permanently unemployable because you've now got a stigma attached to you in addition to a semi-permanent record that is now stored on search engines if it really gets amplified, as well as the embarrassment to your family and being shunned from real-life social groups for saying dumb and flippant stuff is much, much worse.
I should also probably remind you that your employer is also watching your Facebook posts, and your Google+ stuff and your Instagrams and whatever else you have, depending on your visibility to customers, partners, et cetera. With these services, you have the ability to keep status updates within groups of your choosing, but the risk is still there.
So you should be locking down profiles as much as you can and if you have any doubts about a status update and how it could end up getting copied outside of the circles it is inteded for, and leaked where you don't want it to leak, then don't post it.
Happy Holidays, everyone. And don't be stupid.
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