Opinion

How social media can get you fired

It’s a publishing tool, How social media can get you fired a source of news and information but also a dangerous place for the overzealous. In a piece which first ran in Encore,  Matt Smith looks at how social media can sound the death knell on your career.

In less than 140 characters controversial comedian Catherine Deveny made a joke that would cost her her job. It was 2010 and while she wasn’t the only one providing couch commentary for the Logies on Twitter that night, few experienced a similar backlash. The next day Deveny, then a columnist for Melbourne’s The Age newspaper, was sacked. She had held the position since 2001.

While Deveny did not respond to Encore’s request for an interview, she has defended her actions on numerous occasions. The day following her sacking, she was a guest on the 774 ABC Radio show Mornings with John Faine. After Faine explained the situation and read out the offending tweets, Deveny responded.

“I was told that my remarks were offensive. I was basically sacked for swearing on Twitter and telling grown-up jokes,” she said. “You’ve got to understand social networking to get the context of it. It’s passing notes in class, it’s little text messages. It’s taken out of context.” The Age’s then editor-in-chief Paul Ramadge explained to Faine why he let Deveny go citing a number of conversations with the columnist around “the language she was using in other media”.

“People are free to express their own views in many different ways but when it is seen by some to be a reflection on The Age, then as the editor of The Age I get involved,” he said at the time. “I think the combination of how she was positioning herself… was not really in keeping with the sort of standards I’m trying to set for the paper.”

At the time there was nothing specific

in the Fairfax code of conduct relating to social media. When questioned on the issue Ramadge said they were discussing addressing this problem. An internal social media policy is now very much in place at Fairfax Media and took effect in 2011.

“We are in a period of great change,” said Ramadge on the radio program, explaining the social media landscape. “Things that are said on Twitter are then picked up by other media, and so a train of reportage and commentary can come off Twitter. To that extent it is part of the total media picture, arguably more than Facebook.”

John Bergin, a digital journalist and social media consultant, believes those in the media spotlight who are under scrutiny need to be particularly mindful of what they say on social media. “Tweeting something offensive mightn’t get you fired, but it will definitely affect how people think of you, and can lose you social standing or things like sponsorships,” he says.

He believes that part of the problem is the lack of understanding about how private social media is. “I respectfully disagree that Twitter is like passing notes in class. If the note was the billboard and the classroom the entire country and beyond you might be closer, but it’s a poor metaphor.”

“Twitter is an act of publishing. If you aren’t prepared to say it on the airwaves or say it down the barrell of the camera, then why put it on social media?”

A PUBLIC FORUM

It’s easy to think that what you say on social media exists in a sacred space. On Facebook, specifically, users have the ability to lock up their data using the platform’s privacy controls, although a 2012 consumer report showed that around 12 per cent of users in the US alone weren’t aware of them or don’t use them.

Twitter, on the other hand, exists solely to broadcast and share thoughts with the world which can get its users into serious hot water.

There’s no better example than Bruno Bouchet, the self-confessed “posterboy for social media gone wrong”. In mid-2012 he was the the guest and talent producer on 2DayFM’s Kyle and Jackie O Show, and had built himself a large social media following.

Bouchet says: “I really enjoyed it. The producers get quite a bit of airtime, and essentially become characters. My character was that of being a bit provocative and out there. It’s hard to have that moment to step back and really think about the consequences of what you’re going to put on social media.”

Bouchet was in a taxi late one Friday night after a few drinks, and read on Twitter about the tragic mass shooting during a screening of The

He tweeted jokes on the topic to more than 2,200 followers.

“You think back and it’s so easy to fuck up a good career in 140 characters,” says Bouchet. “There’s not a day that goes past where I don’t regret it. I loved what I did, and the challenge of it, but I fucked up and paid the price for it.”

Bouchet, now the marketing manager at watch brand Casio Timepiece, says he didn’t realise the gravity of what he had said until the next morning when he saw the reaction on social media. “By the time I went to work on Monday, it had a life of its own and I knew I wasn’t going to survive the day. They’d already turned off my email.”

Bouchet’s then employer, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), released a statement saying that Bouchet was terminated for violating the network’s social media policy. Bouchet says he admitted he’d done the wrong thing and they agreed to part ways first thing in the morning.

SCA was one step ahead of Fairfax and had a robust social media policy in place which is fairly standard in the radio space. Kate Beddoe, managing director for digital and iheartradio at the Australian Radio Network, says social media guidelines are important in ensuring the radio station brand and the audience are respected.

Beddoe says: “Basically it can

be summed up as stay classy on Facebook and Twitter. Public figures are held to higher standards on social media. For radio personalities their job depends on them understanding the power of an open mic, and they apply the same judgement on social media.”

GONE IN 140 CHARACTERS

Sadly Bouchet and Deveny aren’t alone in facing firing by 140 characters. In 2010 swimmer Stephanie Rice was dumped by sponsor Jaguar Australia for tweeting comments that were interpreted as being homophobic. More recently, Australian batsman David Warner was fined after he was found guilty of breaching Cricket Australia’s code of conduct for tweeting abuse at two News Limited journalists.

And while incidents involving high-profile individuals tend to get the most media attention, we common folk are just as likely to get fired over our online conduct. Stephen von Muenster, principal at von Muenster Solicitors & Attorneys, says that most organisations have legally binding social media policies in place. He says: “We’ve drafted them ourselves; policies that specify behaviour and conduct talking about their organisation, brands and products.”

“If someone broadcasts something poor or negative that affects the brand or employer they’d find themselves possibly facing dismissal,” he says. “Employees are foolish to think that they may say what they wish in private time on social media with immunity. Fair Work Australia has been looking at some of these terminations and if there is a reasonable policy and it’s breached then there’s ground for fair termination.”

While von Muenster acknowledges that nothing on a social network remains totally private, he does lament that fact. “It’s an aspect of your privacy you should get back. You can never erase it. You should be careful what you say on social media, as it isn’t private, it’s social. It’s there for people to read.”

Bouchet learned this lesson the hard way, and now shies away from using Twitter. “It’s hard not to use social media. When you work in the media, you risk being left behind,” says Bouchet. “Unfortunately it’s easy to let your guard down, and if you aren’t careful you can end up living your life through it. You definitely can’t turn your back on it.”

Cover-for-Newsletter

This story first appeared in the weekly edition of Encore available for iPad and Android tablets. Visit encore.com.au for a preview of the app or click below to download.

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