Journalists and social media: a volatile employment mix

In the wider workforce we hear of employees who run afoul of the boss when posting on social media about their wild weekends after they threw a sickie from work, and seem baffled when they realise the employer has seen the post and dismissed them.

The Queensland Ambulance Service has a team that scours the internet and sends employees please explain messages such as why you said or disclosed this, or how come you were off sick, but attended this social function as shown on Facebook?"

Social media is like the wild west, un controlled and sometimes dangerous. So-called privacy settings can mean nothing. If someone can access your social media posts they can share them with others.

Social media posts that lead to sudden sackings are not exclusive to journalists. I had a case of an Ambulance officer who posted a photo of a broken leg on Facebook, the patient wasn't identifiable but the officer was sacked for breaching that patient's privacy.

Another case, a different employer, was where a man had a Gym business as well as his day job. He had a day off work sick and went to a function for his Gym, and someone put his photo on Facebook and the date. He was sacked as a result of this.

We have also had various cases of people sacked for criticising their boss publicly via social media posts.

So against this trend how should media employers behave and more importantly what should their journalists take from the trend of employers coming down hard on critical social media posts?

Anyone using social media needs to think hard about what they are saying and any possible consequences of their posts.

If it relates to your job, then don't bad mouth the boss because it could come back on you. If you have a sick day don't put up posts about your social activities when you told the boss you were too sick to work.

For journalists, consider whether your social media posts may be misread by others as implying that you are speaking for your media employer.

Media organisations, indeed all employers, need to have well-considered social media use policies and ensure all staff are fully aware of what they can say in regards to their working life as opposed to truly social activities.

Using social media as a soapbox may play to a journalist's wish to inject their own opinions into an issue but as we have seen, it carries risks.

If your remarks could be seen as blurring the line between your work and your private views, then in these situations social media is not your friend.