A call to end social network sackings

In the last 2-3 years social networking usage has grown at an exponential rate, to the point where most now consider it an accepted form of communication that sits comfortably in day to day life. At the same time there’s been a lot of publicity given to those who fall foul of the often tumultuous relationship between such sites and their users’ employers. Is there any room for organisations in the 21st century that take a hard-line stance on what is essentially becoming accepted behaviour amongst the population?

Let’s take a look at Facebook which has often caused some of the most controversy. Hardly a week goes by without news of someone losing their job over a dubious status update or in the case of one of the most recent victims, just being spotted online. Frankly, I think this is all a little unfair, so what if your status update says your work is boring, everybody gets bored at work, everybody hates Monday mornings and everybody has taken a ‘sick’ day.

There is one sure way of avoiding all this, don’t add colleagues from work to your friends list. But honestly, what is the Facebook etiquette for when your boss invites you to be friends? In my case I resisted multiple invites over the course of about 6 months before I gave in. Facebook has almost as much to answer for as Blackberry when it comes to the blurring of a person’s work like balance albeit each is rooted in opposing camps.

What it really comes down to is that technology is eroding the barriers between work life and home life. As long as this trend continues companies that are stiff, inflexible and unwilling to recognise that their employees are fully rounded human beings  (not single-minded automatons) are going to be responsible for a lot more firings of this nature. To them I say, evolve or die. And for goodness sake invest in your HR department!