[Air-L] Facebook posts used to fire people in Australia

[Rhiannon Bury]

The public/private bites back, for sure, but this is  not new to facebook. Years ago, I made a mildly negative comment about a former department  in an email to a new colleague. She promptly forwarded it to the Chair because, unbeknownst to me, she had an agenda and wanted a program I ran closed down. It didn't work but the Chair called me in and I had some explaining to do. Very embarrassing to say the least.  A situation like this  can happen with any form of written communication. A friend of mine was fired on the spot when her new boss her rifled through her desk and found a photocopy she had taken on the office machine for her own business. 

The lesson for facebook is the same for any other "traceable" communication--think before you post and in the words of Deep Throat from The X-Files, "trust noone." :)

Rhiannon