Liking the Wrong Thing on Facebook Can Get You Fired

[Cowabungaa]

And that is why you never make a facebook using your real name.

And that is why you don't use facebook at all.

Seriously, there has never been anything as useless as Facebook.

Really comes in handy in college though. We spread events, workshops, meetings, college notes and all that jazz through my course's Facebook group. We talk about lectures, swap experiences about failing teachers so we can do something about it as a group and even discuss and make make-at-home exams. I never expected Facebook to be so useful, used to hate it just as much as you do.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Soooo....if I work for Coca Cola and drink a Pepsi at a restaurant, they have the right to fire me? If I work for Ford but show up to work in a Honda, my job is as good as gone? This is some pretty high-grade bullshit, I doubt anything in the contracts these guys signed mentioned slavish obedience to their boss at the expense of any personal opinions they may have.

It isn't as if they disobeyed a direct order, were insulting to the guy or were even doing their jobs badly. All they did was state a preference. There's no way they should lose their jobs over it.

Of course, the most worrying thing about this is that half this thread seems to be people bragging smugly about how terrible facebook is and how smart they are not to be using it rather than considering how fucked up the news story is :-\

 

[Calibanbutcher]

Hey, if "liking" something is not enough to be protected under free speech, that means that from now on you will have to write actual comments.
Sth. like: "You are much better suited for the job than the douchebag running the show atm"
BAM free speech.

 

[newwiseman]

It's cases like this that make me sick.

But remember everyone, not all police are corrupt. Only most and all it takes is most.

I love uninformed children.

A few bad cops and they think "most" are corrupt.

I guess 'most' Muslims are bomb carrying psychopaths and 'most' people who live in the south of the US are bucktoothed rednecks amirite?

It's called sarcasm, welcome to the internet; and yes your right.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Heh...

So we're going back to the pre-union era of hiring practices and inter-company politics eh?
Only instead of selling your vote to the company president (or whoever he supported) to keep your job, you're agreeing to sell your facebook Likes. Your opinion.

But as long as the law says that it doesn't recognize this, employers have a new way of weeding out and controlling their employees off the clock.

I'm more glad than ever to not use Facebook, Myspace, or any other personally-identifiable profile sites.

 

[Lionsfan]

And that is why you never make a facebook using your real name.

And that is why you don't use facebook at all.

Seriously, there has never been anything as useless as Facebook.

Herp derp I dislike something so it's useless herp derp.

You find me an easier and more efficient way of keeping in contact with old friends when you and they have moved in vastly separate directions.

Also find me a better way to coordinate social functions and nights out with multiple people.

Then I might not think you're being a ridiculous misanthrope for the sake of being a misanthrope.

But being a misanthrope is so edgy and cool, it makes me feel almost good about myself.

I wonder how many people have read through this thread or just past you're initial quote. Because I've seen like 4 or 5 people just saying the same damn thing that the first person did. I mean the thread is only like 4 pages, it's not that hard to go through most of it.....

 

[RagTagBand]

Moral of the story? Don't just "like" a page, write on it too and THEN you're protected!

 

[Aardvaarkman]

I find facebook useful for chatting with some friends and as a place to pool news updates that I'm interested in but if I ever getc a job at a place that interested in my facebook page I'm just going to delete the thing. They can't use something against me that isn't there.

Actually, I think this could definitely happen. With so many people having Facebook accounts, I can see a company firing or not employing somebody who doesn't have a Facebook account. The reasons could range from "what have you got to hide?" to "we need you to have a Facebook page so you can 'like' The Company."

Facebook is basically taking over the open internet. To many people, Facebook is the internet, and the idea of not having a Facebook account is unthinkable. Anybody who doesn't have one must be an anti-social loser. Therefore, people without Facebook accounts will be excluded from society, including employment opportunities.

 

[Urameshi13]

And this is reason number 147 why I do NOT have a Facebook account.

 

[Guffe]

Wow people are having some tense relations with their bosses here.
I get along with both of mine just perfectly, we even do stuff that most likely could get us fired if done in the wrong places (no having sex is not one of them) and we get along juts perfectly!
But I think firing someone because of what they think is kind of over the top unless they are like satanists who torture and do human sacrifices etc.
Faith in UnitedStatesOfAmerican crazyniess restored.

 

[1337mokro]

Would you expect a Senator or Representative to hang onto staff who give a Facebook like to their political opponents? No.
This was a pure sign of disrespect for the person they were working for and zero support. Sheriff BJ Roberts has to expect full support from his deputies when things hit the fan, and this juvenile bit on Facebook showed they have zero support for the guy. It isn't just about bruised feelings. The Sheriff's Department is law enforcement, responsible for the same risks the Police go through. If you don't have strong support from your deputies or officers, then you are liable to be left out in the cold and killed during any action.
As far as I am concerned, those people would have been better off quitting their jobs, giving their vote to the opposing guy, and then see if he wins and hires them back into the department. Otherwise they basically just stabbed their boss in the back.

So even if the guy is an incompetent drooling moron, you have to support him because you OWE him your loyalty?

No. You don't have to support some one simply because he is your superior. Given that the Sheriff is an elected official this means the Sheriff can change. Now what if the other guy got elected? Should he just fire everyone currently there because they didn't show support for him before he got elected? After all according to your broken logic they owe their loyalty to the previous Sheriff, so being the new Sheriff means that the current office is a den of snakes and coffee full of spit.

They don't owe their loyalty to the man. They owe their loyalty to the position. Whoever is running for it or sitting on that chair currently doesn't matter.

The fact this man FIRED people who liked his opponents facebook page already shows poor leadership capabilities and the inability to build trust and EARN the respect of his peers. If he fails at earning the respect of his co-workers he sure as fuck hell isn't worthy to DEMAND they have respect and faith in him.

Please sir. Here's a ticket to North Korea. Please move there so you can fit in with other people of the same mindset.

 

[Firia]

The day facebook plays a roll in how my job views my continued duration with them is the day I quit facebook. No social media tool should ever have that much power over my workplace.

 

[Cowabungaa]

So what you're saying is at Uni, you've replaced social interaction with a computer barrier.
Facebook isn't needed to do any of that and if anything mal-adjusts you to interacting with other people. There are a lot of things people will listen to over the internet that will get you decked face to face.

What? No, that's silly, what on heaven's name makes you say that. Everyone has different classes at different times, and different years generally can't mix due to different timetables and all that stuff. Plus, you try having a discussion with a couple of hundred people in real life, share things, etc etc. Even for my small project group it has it's uses, as we can easily share homework and place a quick comment or something so we edit it at home. Face it, Facebook has it's uses.

 

[Xorph]

Snip

Use facebook if that's what you want, I just fail to see how it would be the only way to contact the person or how some people can't seem to keep track of their friends without it.

I just can't see the value of the service from my perspective, and my annoyance towards it comes from how it's everywhere nowadays.

Well, say you have a really good friend who moved to another country, even if temporarily, and their phone service charged loads extra for long distance calls. At that point, your only real methods of communication is instant messaging, which facebook graciously provides, and email (which with instant messaging is just kind of pointless).
I personally don't use facebook because I don't have a situation like that, but if I did it'd either be FB or Steam.

 

[Mike Fang]

As a journalist, I'm all for protecting a person's first amendment freedoms. However, this sheriff wasn't saying his staff members -couldn't- click on the "like" button of his opponent. On the other hand, firing them for supporting his opponent, particularly in a way that didn't contribute to his opponent's election campaign, seems pretty unfair, since people have the right to support whoever they want. I'd say this issue is probably going to require breaking some new legal ground to accommodate the new public social media.