Technology of the 21st Century

In the highly interconnected world technology acts both as a helping hand as well as a detrimental force in the current job market.

          I recently watched a video for my class in which a women was fired for what she said over Facebook. I think it is a fairly common occurrence for people to be overlooked or lose their jobs due to detrimental things they post on Facebook. When Facebook first became a phenomenon a lot people did not understand that the things they posted were out there for the world to see. Many large companies have the ability to see your social media sites and bashing the employer or company will not show you in a flattering or professional light. We all leave a digital footprint whenever we go online. It is all the data that we leave behind online. Everything we post and write is saved into the giant network of the internet and nothing posted on the internet ever really goes away. Things will follow you for years even after being deleted and it is important to recognize that negative pictures or posts will never entirely disappear. Not all social media site are as private as we believe that they are. Many large companies either have the ability to override privacy settings or require you to show them your social media sites. That is why it is so important to monitor what you post if you work in a professional environment or are looking for a job. In the video the women was fired for the negative, angry posts she made about her employer. The same situation applies to negative posts or comments made about fellow co-workers online. There must exists a divide between the professional world and your private world. It is not acceptable behavior in the current job world to be posting negative things about one’s company or employers online, especially in sites that have the capacity to become publicly accessed. The employer has every right to few and make decisions based on Facebook posts. There is a law in place which protects employees email but Facebook is fair game. In essence the lesson to take from these women’s mistakes is to never post anything on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter that you are not comfortable with everyone seeing.
It is clear the woman in the video did not think the comments she made on Facebook would get her fired. If you were her friend and she told you what she was planning to post before she actually made the post, what would your advice have been to her? Why?  I think that the women was largely oblivious to the fact that her posts and complaints would get her fired. I do not think she thought that her boss would ever see them and as a result she did not hesitate in posting them. If I was her friend I would warn her against posting anything negative on social media because it is out there for the public to see. Those thoughts and feeling are personal and do not need to be shared with the world over media outlets such as Facebook. As a college student I am very careful about what I post online because things I post now may affect me in the future when I am looking to apply for a job.
Watch the Video at....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ttx-ERwrh4&feature=youtu.be