Social Media Impact in the Workplace

Social media is one of the fastest growing impacts to our society.  No matter what field that you are in, you have been impacted by this growth in social media.  There are more and more people, groups, and companies that are creating some kind of social media platform.  This is the way that many people learning about new advancements, impacting events, and everyday news.  But what is posted is still something that should be thought out prior to submitting that Facebook status update or Tweet on Twitter.

Anyone that works will have a bad day or want to vent.  A growing trend that is being seen is that this venting is done online through different social media websites.  Employees on all the different levels in an organization are using these sites so it is not just the ones in power or the ones doing the everyday tasks.  However, the impact can be very real for any of these individuals if what they are posting makes their employer look negative to the public.

Justine Sacco is a name that spread like wild fire one day because of a tweet that she had posted on her personal Twitter account.  While on her way to Africa on vacation, she posted a tweet saying “Going to Africa, hope I don’t get AIDS, j/k I’m white”.  As you can imagine, it was not taken as a joke to anyone online.  It spread so quickly that a page was created to see when she landed at her destination.  Someone in Africa was there to post when her flight had landed and they saw her in the airport (Washkuch 2014).

By the time that she landed, it was too late to take back what she had written.  There were a number of voicemails, texts, and emails that had come in during her flight (Blachfield 2015).  When boarding the plane she was a senior PR professional with an up and coming future but walking off that plane all that changed.  She was released from her job and was now on the journey of rebuilding her reputation and career.

One tweet was all it took for this person’s life to change.  It’s not only Justine that has been impacted by this.  There are more and more cases being heard in courts regarding wrongful termination over something that an employee had posted on their personal social media account.  It has now reached so far as to be included in many HR agreements with new employees that discussions regarding their jobs are not put on any social media platform without the employer’s consent.  This is one of the great impacts of media advancements today. 

References

Blanchfield, P. (2015). Twitter's outrage machine should be stopped. but justine sacco is the wrong poster child. Washington: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1658053147?accountid=3783

Washkuch, F. (2014, 02). Sacco tweet scandal a lesson for young PR professionals. PRweek, 17, 22. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1511913392?accountid=3783