Fired for Facebook Posts

October is National Cyber Safety Awareness Month, however we also should take caution to what we are posting online – and this may be the reminder we need.

You posted what?!
As we live more of our lives online, social media has become the new water cooler for employees to discuss working conditions. On one hand, employers have the fear of disgruntled employees doing some serious brand damage online. On the other, they have the risk of being sued for violating federal law.

Source: Online Paralegal Programs

Everybody’s Online: At Least Almost Everybody

7 in 10
Adult Internet users who use social networking sites
The younger the worker, the more likely they use social media:
Percentage of social media use by age group
18-29 83%
30-49 77%
50-64 52%
65+ 32%
15½ hours
Average amount of time spent per month on Facebook
1 in 4
Facebook users who don’t manage their privacy settings
6 in 10
Workers who say they are unsatisfied with their jobs
What does all of this mean? That you probably use Facebook or other forms of social media, and you use it a lot. It also means you’ve probably got some things to gripe about once you get home from work. It’s not a leap to say it’s at least tempting to unload your job dissatisfaction on social media. But be careful …

What the Law Says

What about free speech, you ask? The First Amendment protects you from legal consequences of protected speech, but it doesn’t mean you are immune from all negative effects. You would probably expect to be fired—or at least reprimanded—if you insulted your boss to her face, so you should expect it if you do so online and the wrong person finds out.
But laws vary by state, as more lawmakers are recognizing and protecting the rights of employees in their off-the-clock communications. Generally speaking, an employer can intervene when:

• An employee posts during work hours
• An employee’s posts endanger the company (such as by revealing confidential information)

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that employers cannot fire workers acting with other employees to initiate a group action against a perceived injustice by their employer.

It’s Happening Everywhere

Here’s just a sampling of the stories of workers who were fired for what they said in social media:
Where: London, Buckingham Palace
Who: Palace guard
Why: The 18-year-old guard slammed Kate Middleton in a Facebook post

Where: O’Hare Airport, Chicago
Who: TSA baggage screener
Why: The nine-year TSA veteran repeatedly went on racist and homophobic rants publicly on Facebook

Where: Rhode Island
Who: Physician
Why: A 48-year-old doctor at a hospital posted information about an emergency room patient

Where: Arkansas
Who: Police officer
Why: The office posted a warning to residents not to drink and drive; his supervisor said the post compromised a planned DUI checkpoint

Where: Michigan
Who: Community college professor
Why: The professor used the story of a failing student in a status update

Where: Massachusetts
Who: Firefighter/paramedic
Why: Posting negative things about gays, mentally challenged people, public officials and others who disagreed with him

Where: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Who: Several hospital employees
Why: A worker snapped a photo of a woman he thought was attractive and shared it on Facebook; he was fired and so were his coworkers who “liked” the photo

Where: Chicago
Who: Bartender
Why: Making racist comments that soon went viral

Not Fired — Not Even Hired
The other part of this equation is making sure your online persona is clean to begin with, because potential employers are watching.
3 in 4
Recruiters required to conduct online research on candidates
70%
Recruiters who have rejected candidates based on online investigations
What employers are looking for:
65% Does the candidate present himself or herself professionally?
51% Is the candidate a good fit for company culture?
51% Want to learn more about qualifications
35% Is the candidate well-rounded
12% Reasons not to hire the candidate

SOURCES
http://pewinternet.org
http://www.statisticbrain.com
http://blog.bufferapp.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.wzzm13.com
http://college.monster.com
http://thenextweb.com

What Your Teens Think of Your Online Reputation?

You know you’re a pretty good parent. Sure, you’re not perfect – but most of the time, you do what you have to do to provide a comfortable, nurturing life for your kids. Most importantly, your children love and respect you.

But because kids are naturally curious, they will start to wonder about aspects of your life that they aren’t familiar with. And since kids are computer-savvy, they’re likely to turn to the Internet to find the answers rather than ask you.

When they type your name into a search engine, what will they come across? Will they discover:

• Inflammatory comments from you? Did you insult someone on a Facebook thread? Send out a foul-mouthed tweet? Or perhaps you even kept a personal blog at one point that espoused ideas you’ve since “grown out of”? They’re still out in cyberspace somewhere.
  

• Embarrassing photos or videos with you in them? Maybe these images depict you drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, or consuming illicit drugs. Or perhaps you were wearing provocative or inappropriate clothing. Or it’s possible you were engaging in some activity that would require a difficult and uncomfortable explanation.
  

• Photos or videos containing you and other members of the opposite sex? Even innocent photos of you and an ex-significant other can set off a confused train of thought in the minds of (particularly young) children. Especially if you were kissing or hugging someone who isn’t their mother/father. (And God forbid that ill-advised sex tape ever made its way onto the Web!)
  

• Negative comments made by others about you? Kids are protective of their parents, so it may hurt them if they see other people saying bad things about Mom and Dad on Facebook or other social media sites, even if they were meant in jest. Especially if they were written by people that the child knows (like family friends or relatives).
  

• Your membership in groups that may be difficult to explain? In addition to traditional organizations, this includes online forums, virtual worlds, and even gaming sites. If you are found contributing to a site or group that discusses drugs, weapons, illegal activity, or pornography – even one time – that will probably initiate an awkward parent-child conversation.
  

• Complaints or accusations against you professionally? If you are a business owner, lawyer, or doctor, there are sites out there that collect reviews and comments about people in your industry. Practicing good merchant, attorney, or physician reputation management will reduce the odds of your kid seeing someone insult or gripe about their mom or dad.
  

• Your criminal record? Sure, those criminal record database sites cost a little money – but that doesn’t mean that your child still won’t get access to them. Even if it was a drug charge, public intoxication arrest, or a misdemeanor assault or theft, any blemish on your past could undermine any moral authority you have with your kids in the future.

You’ve probably already figured out the moral of this story: It is essential that you monitor your online reputation. This means getting problematic content off of sites you control, and even asking other site administrators to remove unflattering material. Because the last thing you want is for some long-ago incident or bad decision to come back to haunt you by jeopardizing your relationship with your children.

Guest post by Chris Martin.

For more valuable tips and information order Google Bomb book!

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Google Yourself Challenge

Do you know what Google is saying about you?

From: BackgroundCheck.org

Here are some statistics on who is looking for your data:

• 81% of millennials Google or Facebook their date before going out
• 79% of recuiters and hiring managers screen applicants by information available online
• 86% of hiring managers have rejected someone based on information available online
• 7 in 10 internet users search online for information about others

As a reminder, my story and book can help you learn about maintaining your online image. Order today!

Google Bomb! The Untold Story of How the $11.3M Verdict Changed the Way We Use the Internet.

Teens, Scholarships and What they Post Online

We are becoming a broken record as we try to explain to our kids what they post online can potentially affect their future.

The Internet is a wonderful educational tool but can also work against us if not properly used.

The dangers of technology, especially for kids and teens, has been in the media for the past several years.  Whether it is cyberbullying or Internet predators, South Florida especially is not a stranger to these horrific events.

For teens looking forward to higher education and especially applying for scholarships to help them with financing college, they need to think before they post on their social networking sites such as Facebook.

According to a 2011 Kaplan study, 80% of college admissions are using search engines and a students’ social media presence to screen their applicants which means your college application isn’t the only papers being reviewed about your child.  Exactly how does their digital footprint look?

Now let’s talk money.  Especially in today’s economy many families and students are applying for as many scholarships are they can.  Recent reports, like college admissions, are also using students’ social media presence to determine whether they are deserve the scholarship.

Facebook is obviously the largest social networking site that many use.  Isn’t it time to encourage your teen to sit down and clean it up?  Especially with the latest Timeline, it is simply a click away to see pictures or comments that maybe just don’t need to be there.

You may think because your child’s Facebook is set on private you are safe.  Don’t be fooled.  If it’s online, it’s usually public information – remember your child is friends with friends that may not not have their privacy settings set as high.

Don’t risk losing a scholarship or a college of your choice for a dumb remark online or a compromising photo!

3 Tips to maintain your teen’s digital resume:

• Set up your Google, MSN, Bing, Twilert alerts (always know when there is something online about you so you can address it immediately). It only takes a few minutes, it is free and can save you a lot of reputation repair later on.
• Buy your own URL in your teen’s name.  This can be less than $10.00 through GoDaddy and you can own your own online real estate.  Building a site can be easy and if you can do it with your personal interests, it sets the tone  for your future.
• Create a Blog about you and your interests.  This is free.  Use your name as the URL.  You can use Blogger.com or WordPress.com.  Both are user friendly and again, create it about you and your interests.  Keep your grammar and spelling in check.

If you need to know what happens when you don’t maintain and take pre-cautions with our online profile, read Google Bomb!  This is a cautionary tale of how a flourishing and successful career of over a decade can literally be brought to its’ knees due to a few keystrokes and a click of a mouse.

WATCH VIDEO.

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Data Privacy Day and Tips to Protect Your Virtual Information

January 28th is Data Privacy Day.  It seems we have a day for so many different things, however I believe that everyday people should be concerned about their privacy and especially their teens and kids informational online.  What are they putting out that there that they don’t realize could potentially put them at risk later?

Rebecca Herold, a Des Moines-based privacy expert, better known as The Privacy Professor explains with the rapid growth of technology, people should be more cautious about what they share.

“Too many folks adopt new technology without fully understanding how it may be capturing or distributing their personal, private information,” she said in a press release. “Whether it’s a smartphone tracking their location or social media sites repurposing their personal photos, often people are simply unaware of what’s being collected and how or with whom it’s being shared. People should continue to be concerned with ‘old-fashioned’ threats like phone scams and crooks digging through trash to find personal information on discarded paper documents and digital storage devices.”

Here are some of Rebecca Herold’s smart tips to help keep your information safe and private:

• Read the privacy policy of websites you visit the most. Search for the word “share” and see if the website is open about how it distributes your personal information to others.
• Double check privacy settings on social media sites such as Facebook. Read about its new changes and ensure it only shares what you want it to. Read about past Facebook privacy issues here.
• Review people connected to you. Ensure you only provide access to your personal profile to people you trust and know well.
• Don’t post anything online that you wouldn’t want the whole world to see. Information may be private between you and your friends but friends can repost statuses and other information with/without your consent.
• Secure your personal wireless connections.
• Invest in a shredder to shred financial or other documents before tossing them.

You can follow Rebecca Herold on Twitter and visit her website.

Most  important, talk to your teens about what they are sharing online.  The fact that most college admissions and employees are using the Internet to screen their potential applicants can determine your child’s future.  Teen’s need to understand what goes online today, WILL be there tomorrow.  It may be funny today, and not so funny two years from now.

Cyber Hawks that Stalk!

Order today!

A new HEIGHT of cybercrimes, stalking, stolen identities, cyber-corruption and criminal predators with a keypad

Do you believe your online image, reputation and character are protected? Firewalls broken – hackers hacking – and you are now virtually invaded! Learn from Sue Scheff’s $11M defamation verdict that changed Internet Culture.

Google Bomb (n) or “link bomb”: Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search. (Wikipedia)

Sue Scheff was a regular person who found out in the most evil way what slander awaited her in cyberspace. Scheff’s business, reputation, and identity were stolen, livelihood ruined, her mental health threatened after viral defamatory statements emerged. Scheff was hit with a Google bomb.

Like an epidemic, Google bombs are the latest lethal legal weapon to destroy character and reputations. Our First Lady was hit. No one is immune.  We must be proactive in maintaining our virtual profile.

Still standing and thriving after all she endured both personally and professionally, Scheff now helps others understand the depths of the Internet and what happens when revenge turns to e-venge.

IN THE NEWS: Over 400 newspapers have featured this landmark case. Including a 4-Part LA Times Series, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, AARP, and many more.  Here are snippets of Scheff’s advice on how to protect your image:

 

• Wall Street Journal “Until you go through a vengeful attack on your good name, service or business, you have no idea what a Google bomb can do to you.”
• AARP– “Limit the amount of information you provide on the Internet,” she now advises others. “The Internet is not only an educational tool, it can be a lethal weapon,”
• Washington Post –“if you don’t own your own name, someone else will.”
• Family Circle – “Use extreme caution…Whatever you say in the kitchen goes into your kid’s ears and can come out on the computer screen – and go viral!”
• LA Times – “We need very real repercussions for violating a reporter’s privacy in a motel room with a peep camera for mass voyeuristic consumption.”

 LA Times – “The malicious stroke of a key has become the equivalent of a cyberbullet.” – Sue Scheff

Order Google Bomb today!

Digital Journal Interviews Sue Scheff on Google Bomb Book

Google is the world’s top search engine used by millions each day. Anyone can be defamed easily, all searchable through Google. Author Sue Scheff talks about the Google Bomb and its impact on our life.
The Internet as a technology for information and quick, inexpensive communication may be fascinating for millions around the globe, but if put to malicious use against someone, it can be a paralyzing weapon.
That is what happened in the case of Sue Scheff, author of Google Bomb (HCI Books, 2009). In her book, co-authored with lawyer John W. Dozier, Sue tells the story of her victimization through serial defamatory attacks on the web that destroyed her professional career and trampled her personal reputation as well as her social life. Just by Googling her name, or that of her organization, countless people could mark her and her organization as evil entities, all because of false, malicious, and unchecked accusations (and even effusive abuse) made against her by someone who failed to use her for her own vested interests.

In today’s world, Google has become the measure of one’s reputation – hence the term “Google Bomb”. Standing up against the coercion, however, Sue finally won the historical $11.3 million defamation suit against the culprit responsible for her loss. It was very informative talking to Sue for an interview to run in the journal Recovering the Self (Vol. 3, No 1). Following is a slightly abridged version of Sue’s interview.

Read the entire interview here.

Teen Seasonal Employment: Employers Now Asking for Facebook URL – What Does Yours Say?

Please include your Facebook link when applying for a job

At first glance you would think this is a misprint, but after applying online to a health food store, a young college grad student was asked to provide his Facebook link as part of the application process.  Before doing this, he did change his photo, and this is not implying his photo was inappropriate, however really wasn’t what you want a potential employer to view.  It was a silly photo of him and his friends on a Merry-Go-Round, not exactly a first impression you want a future employer to view or misunderstand.

In reality, many employers and college admissions are viewing Facebook pages.  We don’t need The Social Network movie that took the number one spot for two weeks in a row, to remind us of how powerful the Internet has become. 

Just recently, Jessica Bennett, wrote an amazing article for Newsweek – “What The Internet Knows About You.”  If you haven’t read it, now would be a good time, and remember to pass it on to your friends and family.

With each passing day your privacy is becoming slimmer and slimmer.  When it comes to your safety and the safety of your family, you need to take precautions to insure your cybersafety and your virtual resume. What is your Faceboook insurance?

With this information, as the holidays are approaching and many teens will be looking for seasonal help, they may want to take a double-take at their Facebook page.  If you are an adult looking for a job, needless to say, it can’t hurt to re-evaluate what you are posting online.

What may seem humorous to you and your friends, could be offensive to others.  Privacy is a gift, and how much you want to give is up to you.  However give with caution!

Learn more about ways to protect your privacy and protect yourself from identity theft.

Don’t learn the lesson the hard way, “Google Bomb! The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet,” a story everyone needs to read.

Read more.

Sue Scheff: Think Before You Post – Teen Expelled for FB Post

Just months away from graduation, 17 year-old Tennessee student, Taylor Cummings, was recently expelled from his high school.  Why? 

After weeks of butting heads with his coaches, Taylor, 17, logged on to the popular social networking site from home Jan. 3. He typed his frustrations for the online world to see: “I’ma kill em all. I’ma bust this (expletive) up from the inside like nobody’s ever done before.” – USA Today

A few nasty keystrokes and a click of the mouse and your life can be turned upside down!  Whether you are a student, business owner, parent, or anyone that uses social networking, remember, what goes online – stays online. 

Google Bomb, The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet,  is an example of an adult being held accountable.  Free speech does not condone defamation. 

In many schools now there is a zero tolerance for these types of threats.  We have had many sad endings with cyber threats, cyber suicides, cyberbullying, cyber stalking and other various ways that kids are hurting each other via keystrokes.

Taylor Cummings had a public profile on Facebook without any restrictions on who could see it.  This in itself should be a wake-up call to many.  Take the time to secure your privacy settings.  Think twice before allowing your profile to be public. 

Parents should take the time to review their children’s social networking sites.  Especially those that have teens that will be applying to colleges.  More and more colleges are using search engines to research their applicants.  What is Google saying about you?

Take the time to maintain your online image and learn to stop, think and consider what you are about to post or send.  Will it be considered threatening?  Will it be considered defamatory? Is it targeted to hurt someone?  Take the time to educate your children and teens about “what they post today, may haunt them tomorrow…”

Be an educated parent – you will have safer teens.

Read more on Examiner.

Sue Scheff: Don’t Get Caught Online Naked!

• Are you looking for employment?
• Is your teen applying to colleges?
• Do you run a small business?
• Are you dating online?
• Does your career depend on your reputation?

It’s official; PEW study shows that about 75% of all Americans are using the Internet. More importantly over 53% of people are Googling each other! Do you know what Google is saying about you?

If you fall in any of the categories above, you have reason to be concerned about your virtual image. Being caught naked online doesn’t necessarily mean “butt” naked, however it does mean virtually exposed in ways that may not be flattering to you or your quest in life.

Google Bomb, The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict that Changed The Way We Use The Internet, is a great place to start on repairing and/or polishing your online image. Learn from my story, gain from my virtual disaster that lead to an awareness of the power of a keystroke. Google Bomb also offers great tools to help you dress yourself up online.

For more great tips  on maintaining your virtual profile, visit my series on Virtual Vanity.

Order Google Bomb book today and take control of your wardrobe virtually – remember, whether you are applying for a job, going on a date, or interviewing for admissions at a college – chances are very high someone will be Googling you.
 

What is a Google bomb?

Google Bomb (n) or “link bomb”: Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search. (Wikipedia)

Insure your cyber profile.  Learn how to wear your virtual clothes.
 

Also on Examiner.