Around the Web: When Facebook Gets You Fired
As Facebook eclipsed social networking giant MySpace.com recently, the new public consensus is that “everybody” is on Facebook. Facebook has a strange way of connecting people that you actually know (past or present) with people that you may never had the chance to interact with online (parents, elder relatives).
What we are starting to witness is our online lives and subsequent behavior are starting to affect day-to-day life offline. Hiring managers are searching for potential hire history via google.com and other means and methods to get a “clear picture” on what the candidate brings to the table.
In the case of Philadelphia Eagles employee, Dan Leone, he lost his job as a stadium operations worker due to his opinions on the Eagles allowing key veterans to be released to free agency being posted on Facebook.
The post heard round the world:
“Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver … Dam Eagles R Retarted!!
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Leone was very apologetic.
“I apologized for it,” Leone said, according to the paper. “I apologized 20 million times. I never bad-mouthed the organization before. I made one mistake and they terminate me? And they couldn’t even bring me into the office to talk to me? They had to do it over the phone? At least look me in the eye. To get done dirty like this, I can’t believe it. I’m devastated.”
In this era of increased searchability and transparency, we have to be careful or at least conscious of the comments we make online. The world is watching.