Today I received and email from a friend (Trey) issuing a warning that should be shared. He had sent a work related email to a coworker through their email system. The email came with a picture of Trey's face that was pulled from his facebook profile. Turns out the iphone and the new blackberry will automatically sync work email and facebook and allow the receiver to view the sender's picture. Thankfully Trey's facebook picture was appropriate and the coworker was a peer. That being said, there is potential for embarrassment. How many times have people come home from a Vegas weekend and posted a fun picture to their facebook profile? I am not sure I want my fun Vegas weekend picture associated with my work.
The separation between social life and work life is getting smaller. After doing some research, I found an article at PCWorld that illustrates a case where the US court system rules it "okay" to fire an employee based on facebook. And if you work in an "at-will" state? You can be fired without question. Fox News reported today that Facebook is lowering its security (shocker) and allowing more third parties access to personal information (oh like pictures?).
What does this mean? Make sure you have appropriate pictures and some intense security settings and don't express your hate for your boss or the fact that you are extremely hungover at work all over facebook. Somethings are better left unsaid.
What do you think about facebook and work? When has facebook gone too far?Is it okay to be fired for your status update?
