How Facebook Can Get You Fired
Criticizing your boss
Using Facebook to broadcast a beef with your boss is a surefire way to
get passed over for a promotion, be denied a raise, or if you're not
careful, land in the unemployment line. And if your employer is on your
Facebook Friend list, there's no way to stop her from seeing your
grievances aired in real time from a hastily typed status update.
Keep Your Job: It seems so simple, but if you don't have anything
nice to say, then don't write about it on Facebook where everyone can
view, comment, and share your angry words with others. If you are
connecting with friends, family, and colleagues, then create separate
'Friend Lists' to control the privacy levels for your different groups, and
only open more of your profile to the people closest to you. (credit:
Getty Images)
Playing FarmVille on work time
Are you plowing land,
harvesting crops, and raising virtual livestock on company time? Playing
popular Facebook games like FarmVille when you should be working not
only kills your productivity, but could get you fired.
Keep Your Job: Don't expect any privacy at work. Many companies
today have an internet usage policy that strictly prohibits using the
internet for fun, and a few corporations now track your web browsing
history, keeping your online social media activities on file. Besides, office
computers and internet resources are company property, and spending
time on Facebook is not billable work. If you're allowed a few minutes for
personal activities each day, use your lunch break to check in with your
friends (or virtual farm), or keep the online socializing for home. (credit:
Getty Images)
Status: Called in sick. Who wants to go snowboarding?
If you're playing hooky from work and called in sick to pay for your leisurely
day off, think twice before trolling for playmates on Facebook. It's easy to
get caught in a little lie through social media, especially since everyone can
share and screen capture your falsehood for all to see.
Keep Your Job: Think twice before posting updates or content to your
Facebook profile. Always ask: Is this the type of information I would want to
share with strangers, colleagues, or my employer? (credit: Getty Images)
Gossiping about colleagues, customers
Sharing secrets around the water cooler can be bad for business, especially if
your gossip reaches the ears of a client, colleague, or manager in a corridor
nearby. But posting office shenanigans and tall tales on Facebook could be
career suicide since it's easy to trace the source of the gossip back to you.
Keep Your Job: The writing may be on the wall if you're the type of person
who likes to 'Tell All' through social media. If you can't keep yourself from
typing all the juicy details on Facebook, then maybe you should delete your
account if you want to keep your job. (credit: Getty Images)
Being tagged in a provocative photo
No one wants very private matters shared in the public domain.
Teachers and those who work with children should be extra cautious
about what is posted to social media sites like Facebook. Having a
friend tag or share a provocative photo, video, or blog post about your
private nightlife could get you fired from your day job.
Keep Your Job: School teachers and childcare professionals should be
wary of accepting friend requests from students, leaving suggestive
comments on public pages, and joining inappropriate fan groups on
Facebook. To help keep your personal life private from the curious eyes
of parents and students, be sure to review your Facebook privacy
settings frequently.
Facebook and other social networking sites often make all users' posts
'public' by default -- this allows everyone to see your stuff, including
your principal, students, exes, and even those random people who use
search engines like Bing or Google. (credit: Getty Images)