Teenager loses job over Facebook comment

I was on BBC Look East last night, commenting on the news that a teenage girl was sacked 3 weeks into her job, for telling her Facebook friends that it was boring.

This certainly isn’t an isolated case.

I think that if you’re 16, putting a status update saying that you’re bored is exactly the same as leaning over to your friend in a cafe and saying the same thing. Employers should bear this in mind, but also new employees have to realise that the rest of the world doesn’t work like this yet.

The other important thing is social networking privacy.  Put those settings up to maximum and don’t add people that you don’t know.

Friendship is something to be earned, it’s not something you give away at the click of a button. As you get to know someone more, then you can release some of the privacy controls and let them know a bit more about your life.

Although I have to say, what’s this young lady doing on Facebook? Get over to Plurk!