You can say whatever you want on the internet, right? Our First Amendment protects our freedom of speech in the United States, but with most rules, there are some exceptions. One exception to the First Amendment is ‘ speech that incites imminent danger’ (remember Ben Stiller’s famous “You can’t say bomb on an airplane scene in ‘Meet the Parents’? ). But what about the internet? Our forefathers weren’t thinking of what you can and can’t say on an airplane, let alone a phenomenon known as ‘social networking’.
The first amendment doesn’t clearly spell out that you can’t vent about your boss – or tweet about how great the waves are at the beach when, in fact, you’ve called in *cough* sick that day.
For as much as one tries to keep their Twitter of Facebook private, 100% privacy is never guaranteed. Shalanda Ballard brings up some excellent points in her Law & Social Networking blog about recent cases in the news, and legal things to consider when faced with this situation – either as an employee or employer.
Many companies that do not have formal social networking policies are using more general company policies to discipline employees for social networking activities. Companies often rely on their Confidentiality policy, Inappropriate Conduct policy, and/or Anti-discrimination policy in addressing employee’s social networking activities.
What is your company’s social networking policy? Is there one in place, and if so, have you reviewed it lately? We have a very clear policy on social media at Java Social Networking. You can read it in our Resources section under ’templates’. You also can read Shalanda Ballard’s article and other articles about the laws surrounding social networking here: http://www.lawandsocialnetworking.com/profiles/blogs/social-networking-can-get-you.
I know this is true. I know people in my office that if the boos knew how much time they spent facebooking and playing on their facebook farm… they would certainly be fired!
As they should, in my opinion.