Every time someone gets in trouble or is fired for mouthing off about a boss or employer on social media people go up in flames citing their right to Freedom of Speech, but guess what?
The First Amendment doesn’t cover the workplace.
According to Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor Janice Bellace it just ain’t so.
She says in the U.S., anyone trying to challenge such a practice in court would have almost no legal ground to stand on. “People think they have more rights than they actually have; they seem to think they have rights that are just not there.” For example, she notes that employment law for decades has said that non-unionized workers could always be fired for taking actions that publicly disparage their employers.
Does the First Amendment protect candidates when they are asked for access to their social media? Probably not.
“It has always been the case that employers could ask others about you for a reference and, if you refuse to give them names, they can refuse to hire you.”
For years I’ve enviously read about privacy rights in Europe and watched the European Union enforce them, no matter the political/economic clout of the companies.
And for years friends and business associates laughed at my concerns and cited the First Amendment as our best protection.
While it is marvelous protection for political and religious freedom, it would be wise to remember that it has no protective power in the wonderful world of work.
Sure, that may change, but you have to function in the current reality no matter how hard you are willing to work to change it.
All the world is Facebook—or so Facebook would have you believe—especially with its upcoming IPO.
I don’t have a Facebook account (we maintain on for Option Sanity™, although it’s not particularly active at present). The more I hear the surer I am that I don’t want one.
Mark Zukerberg would have you believe that Facebook’s only interest is making your life better, but a comment from RickyGunns reveals a more and more frequent and unflattering view of his colossus.
…he plans to make it a mandatory agenda to broadcast everyone’s life in real time invading all privacy for his own legacy and profit trying to be another Bill Gates with the exception that he will do it at anyones expense.
Long defamed for frequent, unannounced changes to its (so-called) privacy policy, problems are now arising that are likely to play out in Congress and at Supreme Court level as the demand by private employers, government and colleges for access to candidates’ Facebook pages (either by asking for logins or to be friended) escalates.
In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person’s social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.
In 2007 I wrote about an executive’s dilemma when he found out that the wife of a senior manager cited abuse when she sued for divorce. Although his work performance was fine, the executive was uncomfortable having him on staff. Liz Ryan, a well know HR guru, said, “Ron should be evaluating Terry’s performance on the job, and nothing else.” Most of the other commenters agreed with this. That’s only five years ago, but the personal/professional boundaries have changed drastically.
Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard says, “The core of the problem is the blending of personal and professional lives. We are still in the infancy of trying to understand how to deal with all this.”
Interestingly enough it is younger people who are changing their behavior to meet the challenge.
But today’s spring breakers — at least some of them — say they have been tamed, in part, not by parents or colleges or the fed-up cities they invade, but by the hand-held gizmos they hold dearest and the fear of being betrayed by an unsavory, unsanctioned photo or video popping up on Facebook or YouTube.
But the company is running into a roadblock in this country. Some people, even on the younger end of the age spectrum, just refuse to participate, including people who have given it a try.
Dave Morin, who worked at Facebook for four years before leaving to help found Path in 2010, explains the rationale for his company this way: “Facebook has made socializing on the Internet normal. But now there is an opportunity to return to intimate socializing.”
I have little tolerance for what I perceive as rudeness.
However, a jam-packed, always-on, socially-enabled lifestyle combined to varying degrees with a me-centric view of the world appears to be driving a rising tide of rudeness in people of all ages.
Is there anything else going on beyond the obvious?
Perhaps part of what comes across as rudeness is merely misunderstanding.
Perhaps the difference between such actions as “acknowledgment” and “feedback,” which is a different animal altogether, have blurred to the point of merger—for the record, feedback requires thought, while acknowledgement doesn’t.
Ask anybody in resume limbo how much they would appreciate some form of acknowledgement that their resume had been received.
There was a time when companies sent form letters acknowledging receipt, as well as thanks/no thanks rejections on hard copy and actually paid postage to do it.
These days they can’t even bother with programming an auto-response that costs them nothing, but gains good will.
Many (most?) individuals are even worse; screening their responses to calls and email through a what’s-in-it-for-me filter or are so busy checking Facebook and playing Angry Birds that they don’t have time for the niceties.
Yet, as with most things, the rudeness is not one-sided.
Resumes sent and contacts initiated based on the premise that if you throw enough something will stick also deserve the rudeness label.
Then, of course, there is always the possibility that my definition is archaic and what I see as rude has become acceptable.
Have you ever wondered what people will make of the first Twitter messages in 30 years? Will there be another wave of technological change that makes that world radically different from today?
Long before Twitter and social media there was Usenet; a communal meeting place for scientists, developers, hackers and other early adopters.
Along with the more mundane Usenet was the place of firsts, including some of the most amazing technological announcements of the last 30 years.
For $ 1,565 you get a keyboard and logic unit with 16K RAM and a Basic interpreter in 40K ROM. A cassette interface is built in, I think; but no diskette or monitor at this price — you use your TV set. … A “business configuration” with 64K, dual diskettes, printer, and “color graphics” goes for about $ 4,500.
Among the many ‘firsts’ are some that boggle the mind.
In 1991 there were two that forever changed our world.
WorldWideWeb – Executive Summary: The WWW project merges the techniques of information retrieval and hypertext to make an easy but powerful global information system.
“I’m working on a free version of a minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage where it’s even usable (though may not be depending on what you want), and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution.”
In spite of Monday’s post I’m still ambivalent about social media and I’m not just thinking about Facebook, Twitter and their ilk, but also blogs and other commentary.
Part of my ambivalence is from the anonymity available. Mark Suster defends it and I understand the necessity in places where dissent is dangerous.
One thing social media guarantees is that at one time or another politically correct attitudes will fall prey to actual attitudes and reality can be pretty ugly.
Bloggers have long argued that they deserve the same protections as journalists, but in most cases I disagree. While there are a few exceptions, most bloggers have neither the interest, ability nor resources to do in-depth research of a subject; what we produce is commentary and opinion pieces, so I am glad when a truly destructive blogger is sued and loses.
Of course, a primary reason for my dislike of social media is that it brings out so much human unthinking, me-focused stupidity. Seriously. If you thought distracted driving—email, texting, talking etc.—was bad try distracted doctoring!
And while Facebook and Google initiate efforts to become forces of good, not all twenty-somethings-and-up feel the need. (I have company:)
Crowdsourcing is a new wrinkle in the social world and one that I find positively uplifting. Join me next Saturday for a look at it.
As most of my readers know, I’m not into social media; I am on LinkedIn and my company’s new product Option Sanity is on Facebook and Twitter, but other than the blog posts, I can’t say that any of them are particularly active.
I also freely admit that I don’t really understand how to use them for business (I have no interest in building my ‘personal brand’).
The negative side, especially the bullying, personal attacks, hate and amazing level of active stupidity, that I read about dismays and disgusts me. Beyond the negative much of what I heard was just totally inane; granted, I’m not a celebrity watcher and wouldn’t care what God had for breakfast, assuming h/she bothered posting the information.
Then came the so-called Arab Spring and suddenly social media showed a decidedly positive side.
And so his friends set up a website, amitguptaneedsyou.com, to encourage donor drives, during which the tissue type of potential donors is collected with a cheek swab. The site links to the National Marrow Donor Program website. It provides instructions on hosting a bone marrow dive and provides PDF fliers to promote the events. Yes, there is a Facebook page. Twitter blew up with news of the drives and Gupta’s health. And, of course, there’s a Twitter hashtag (#IswabbedforAmit).
When word of Gupta’s need for a match started circulating, unique visits to the marrow donor program website increased from about 16,000 on a typical day to 40,000. “That’s 21/2 times,” says Dr. Jeffrey Chell, the donor program’s CEO. “That’s impressive.”
I found many other stories of social media’s impact, and lives saved, as a result.
It’s good to know that social media, especially the 5000 pound gorillas Twitter and Facebook, can facilitate more real good than just keeping families in touch.
I dearly love the NY Times; it keep me informed, entertains me and endears me to all those to whom I send pertinent articles about their businesses and interests. I read a number of other sources, but NYT is my favorite.
“British officials and representatives of Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry met Thursday to discuss voluntary ways to limit or restrict the use of social media to combat crime and periods of civil unrest, while trying to dodge charges of hypocrisy and censorship…”
Regular readers know I’m a privacy nut and there’s lots of stuff happening around that subject, starting with the company I love to hate, Facebook, which has once again changed its privacy settings—possibly for the better (maybe).
“…every time Facebook users add a picture, comment or any other content to their profile pages, they can specify who can see it: all of their so-called Facebook friends, a specific group of friends, or everyone who has access to the Internet. … Similar controls will apply to information like users’ phone numbers and hometowns…”
Will the US ever enjoy the privacy choices that Europe does? I and dozens of others have written warnings that what goes on the web stays on the web, but what about your right to have it removed—at least from commercial sites?
“As a general matter, companies in the United States don’t have to recognize your right to be deleted,” says Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a research group in Washington.”
Cellphone and voicemail hacking has been in the news the last few months and I’m getting tired of being told how “that can’t happen here.” Ha! Is that wishful thinking.
“Just how vulnerable are everyday United States residents to similarly determined snoops?
The answer is, more than you might think.”
Enough privacy, on to other stuff.
The big thing now is to check reviews on sites such as Yelp, before trying anything new. This attitude is predicated on the basis that “the wisdom of the crowd” is authentic and trustworthy—which seems to be just another cyber-myth.
“Determining the number of fake reviews on the Web is difficult. But it is enough of a problem to attract a team of Cornell researchers, who recently published a paper about creating a computer algorithm for detecting fake reviewers. They were instantly approached by a dozen companies, including Amazon, Hilton, TripAdvisor and several specialist travel sites, all of which have a strong interest in limiting the spread of bogus reviews.”
My final offering proves that I do read stuff other than the NYT.
“Of the 1055 polled, 6% of respondents said they’d prefer to ask for money via text message, and 4% said they would do it via email. A sad and lonely 1% of respondents said they would do it through social media.”
Beyond anything you have, your most valuable possession is your mind. It is the source of your past, present and future; it can attract or repel; both pain and happiness reside in it, along with all other emotions. Your mind is magical, cherish it.
Buddha understood this when he said, “The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
Plato had an unusual view of the mind’ action that I really like, “When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.”
James Dewar reminds us of an important prerequisite of successful mental effort, “Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open.”
And Henry Ford tells us that learning is what keeps us young, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
But it is William Shakespeare whose words are most appropriate in these days of Facebook, Twitter and all things social, “Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes.”
All the world is Facebook—or so Facebook would have you believe—especially with its upcoming IPO.
I have little tolerance for what I perceive as rudeness.
As most of my readers know, I’m not into social media; I am on LinkedIn and my company’s new product Option Sanity is on Facebook and Twitter, but other than the blog posts, I can’t say that any of them are particularly active.
Beyond anything you have, your most valuable possession is your mind. It is the source of your past, present and future; it can attract or repel; both pain and happiness reside in it, along with all other emotions. Your mind is magical, cherish it.
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