In the New York Times, there is an article called "Keeping a Closer Eye on Employees’ Social Networking" which instatnly caught my eyes. The article is about a newly released program named Social Sentry, which can be very useful for employers to keep an eye on their employees' habits on social networking. Not only what are tweeted or published on Twitter and Facebook , this intelligent program can help the company calculates times the employees are spending on those sites, too. Watching out on social networking of employees is not supposed to be only about laziness and incompetence of employees, more importantly it is about company confidential revealing via tweets or posts. Embarrassing information is supposed to kept in the company and not for the world to know, so, some employers are likely to think that it is their rights to know what are on their employees' facbooks. According to the article, the employer has the right to check, since it's nothing personal, those users put it on for the world to see, unfortunately that "world" includes the one who hired them. Even the president of the National Workrights Institute doesn't seem to be pity of those who got themselves into this situation, or getting fired because of posting things they're not supposed to that is, since “You’re putting it out there for the world.”, said the man.
This article at first seems to be hilarious to me; however, when I looked closer into it, it seems to be a real problem for salary men everywhere. Office-people are people who commonly use those social networking websites, and they would think of the sites as private and personal spaces to say and complain whatever they want to. Apparently, it's not, but some of them are unaware of the fact that when you posted things on the sites, even when you are not using your real name, everyone will be able to see it, including your parents and worst of all your employers. I saw lots of people complaining about their bosses on Twitter, that could cost you to lose your job, I think I should warn my senior friends from now on. If this program becomes popular, none of us will be safe, I am wondered what the social network sites have to say about this. I know that Facebook has system to protect your information, you can choose who can see your information. But this program is developing to include things you post on Youtube and other sites, too. It would be interesting to see how it effects our habits of using social network and also the social network companies themselves.
What are your opinion on this isssue? It's not illegal since you're the one choosing to post things for the world to see; however, it would destroy all the fun, isn't it? It would be like "Oh, my boss sent me a friend request/following request on Facebook/Twitter, and I must accept/allow it" and "What about my beach party pictures from when I lied to my boss that I was sick? Must I delete it all out?".
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References
BRUSTEIN, J. (March 26, 2010). Keeping a Closer Eye on Employees’ Social Networking. The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/keeping-a-closer-eye-on-workers-social-networking/?ref=technology
I think some people are addicts and don't keep personal privacy because They say everything on it and accept everyone's requests. However, it is their right if they don't play it during work time. On the confidential information issue, I think that some people aren't aware of it; they just want to say something on these social networks, but if someone sue them, they would lose. My old employer always says that you have to say nothing about our work; even with my family. Therefore, we should concern that what we say on these applications.
ReplyDeleteOnce you get into an organization, you need to have some commitment for your status there. If you do not want to bear such regulations, you can take a risk of being ousted from it. This is a natural course of employment. I find this practice acceptable. This article reminds me of some articles about the employers who check the applicants' background and biography from their account in social network sites.
ReplyDeleteThe moral from this story is that next time when you register such social networks, never forget using your alias name. And, be careful for those who already registered your real name.