Employers Are Freaking Out About Twitter and Facebook, Study Shows [1]

There has been no shortage of anecdotal evidence suggesting that using social media like Facebook or Twitter can sometimes jeopardize your job.  Back in March, a Philadelphia Eagles employee lost his job [2] when he posted a Facebook status update lamenting free agent Brian Dawkins' signing with the Denver Broncos.  Around the same time, a Twitter user jeopardized a job offer at Cisco by tweeting [3] "Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work."  This summer, the D.C. Department of Employment Services [4] fired a contractor who was working with city youth [5] after he posted updates on Twitter calling the Anacostia neighborhood [6] a "ghetto" and suggesting that he was slacking on the job.  A New York civil servant resigned in July [7] after posting apparently racist comments to Facebook about President Obama and the Henry Louis Gates arrest.

My personal favorite comes recently from an image posted on Imgur.com [8]:

Now comes some empirical data [9] to back up our intuition that employee use of social media [10], blogs [11], and video-sharing sites [12] gives employers the howling fantods [13].  In its annual study [14], Internet security firm Proofpoint Inc. [15] reports that 45% of the companies surveyed (220 companies with more than 1000 employees) are "highly concerned" about the risk of information leakage via posts to social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, 10% have disciplined employees for violating social networking policies in the past year, and 8% have terminated an employee for a violation. According to Mashable [16], the latter figure is up from just 4% last year and represents "a serious crackdown by corporate America on tracking their employee’s online activities."

The study also shows that 41% of companies surveyed are highly concerned about information leaks through Twitter and similar short message services.  No figures are provided for Twitter-related discipline or firings in the past year.  Figures for blogs and message boards are similar to those for social networking sites: 46% of the companies surveyed are highly concerned about information leaks through these avenues, 17% disciplined employees for violating blog or message board policies in the past year, and 9% terminated an employee for a violation. 

If developments last week are any indication [17], there could be a whole lot more firings and other disciplinary actions coming down the pipe. High-profile ones too; just think of all the professional football players [18], U.S. Marines [19], and ESPN reporters [20]! 

All the more reason to exercise a little common sense when posting to the Internet, especially when you're at work or when the subject matter of your post relates to your employment.