MARCH 23, 2009

The Accountability Of Social Media

By now, most everyone is aware of the negative consequences associated with posting too much about ourselves on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. We’ve talked about it several times before here on Undercurrents. We also know, either from experience or through various news outlets, that it is becoming more and more common for potential employees to be screened via Facebook.  However,  I was still surprised when I read that a girl was fired because she expressed her boredom at work in her status message on Facebook. Fired!

In another recent situation, a police officer posted descriptions on Facebook of his aggressive and negative feelings about his duties as an officer, and, consequently, his posts were subpoenaed and used in court. The case resulted in the acquittal of an offending ex-con.  In his defense, the police officer claimed, “You have your internet persona, and you have what you actually do on the street.”

As these scenarios demonstrate, technology is continually breeding transparency. It is becoming more and more difficult to maintain two selves - the “online” you and the “real life” you. And, our online actions can have serious real-world consequences. While I question whether information found on personal online sites should be used as a means for terminating employment or be admissible in court, it reminds me that the transparency that social media breeds is powerful and, in a sense, is leveling the playing field among all groups of people. Sites that were once populated almost entirely by tech-savvy, early adapters are now commonplace, easy to use, and home to a diverse, ever-expanding audience.

This broad accessibility and acceptance of social media means that all of our actions online - how CEOs run their businesses, how politicians conduct their private and public lives, and how people in general express themselves - are fair game, like it or not.