trials & tribulations of a restless mind

The pitfalls of social networking April 26, 2009

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking websites in the world, with around 200 million users. But it recently lead to the sacking of a Swiss woman.

The Swiss woman was on her day off but her employer, through a bogus Facebook profile saw her active on the website after she told them she was too ill to go near her PC. The employer apparently created the fake profile and became her ‘friend’ so as to monitor her activities on Facebook. She was promptly sacked, despite her declaring that she was accessing Facebook via her iphone while in bed.

Since the advent of social networking sites, privacy has been a major issue for its users. At first, it seems like a totally ludicrous idea that someone’s privacy could be violated on a website where you are supposed to be open to meeting new people and keeping in touch. After all, you are supposed to showcase a lot of personal information and, as a result, are always running the risk of your personal details being snapped up by undesirable parties.

Facebook (not sure about other websites, but MySpace are also adamant they do not share member information to third parties) say that they never share any personal details with third parties. So, apart from the occasional stalker, you should be fine as long as you are careful about what and how much you divulge.

But when it comes to employers, where can the line be drawn? According to Careerbuilder.com, when recruiting, 20% of companies admitted to checking candidate’s profiles on social networking sites while a staggering 33% had refused to go forward with a job offer after seeing a candidate’s online profile. Apparently, uploaded pictures showing ‘inappropriate’ behaviour are one of the factors that could lead an employer to not offer a job to a candidate.

As in the case of the Swiss woman above, employers could also be watching your online activities, especially when they have some doubts about that day you took off because one of your grandparents died (for the seventh time). I had one such experience once. While at university, I was working in a night-club part-time. I once faked illness to get a day off because my exams were approaching and I had exhausted the number of study holidays I was allowed to take. During the day, I got a call from the manager, who was on a networking site which was exclusive to my fellow university students and staff. He saw one of my posts on there where I was looking for someone to cover my shift due to me HAVING MY EXAMS and not because I was ill. I know it was quite stupid on my behalf because I was fully aware of my boss being on that network. But I did not get anything worse than a small reprimand (maybe because they liked me a lot). But not everyone could be as lucky as I was.

In some extreme cases, like in the one where employees brought Virgin Atlantic into disrepute, it could be fairly understandable. But with the boundaries of ethics becoming more blurry by the day, what constitutes invasion of privacy by an employer? Where does the personal responsibility of the individual end and the ethical behaviour of the employer start? The debate will rage on and privacy is already one of the top hot topics in an increasingly competitive and insecure world which is witnessing an information revolution.