The dangers of mixing work and pleasure
Misusing Facebook may damage your reputation. Most people are members of social networking sites but many don’t know the impact a single photo or a single status could have on their current and future work affairs.
Case study
Recently a 17 year-old by the name of Axelle Despiegelaere was scouted for L’Oreal as a result of pictures taken of her in the crowd whilst supporting Belgium at the World Cup. After scouting through her social networking profiles, the agency discovered images of her partaking in hunting, she has since been handed her notice. This is proof that misusing Facebook may damage your reputation. It certainly did in her case.
Career opportunities aren’t the only subject in the firing line for poor use of social networking. In 2012 a holiday to America was ruined when one of a holiday party posted on his Twitter that the couple were going to ‘destroy America’, instead of being interpreted as the partying metaphor it was, the US immigration authorities stopped the pair at the airport, took them in for questioning and refused to let them enter the country.
PR that back-fired
It’s not only individuals that social media can affect, it’s the corporations. In 2012 McDonald’s tried to implement a way of promoting themselves which went very sour. Two hashtags were promoted by Mcdonalds, both ‘#meetthefarmers’ and ‘#mcdstories’ were used; the latter resulted in a multitude of customers’ horror stories being used alongside the hashtag leading to mounds of bad publicity for the fast-food giant.
Take care publishing to Social Media platforms
When looking at potential candidates for jobs, it’s often regarded to be more surprising if an individual does not have an online profile of some description than it is if they do. Employers will always look for information prior or post interview to sift the mice from the men, don’t let your crude statuses or lewd pictures ruin your chances.
Before publishing think about a future employer. Another phrase to consider is ‘so what’. Misusing Facebook may damage your reputation – if you didn’t publish the message, comment or image, would the world be better without it?