"Didn't think my personal page/opinion of my day would get so much attention. What a lesson to learn. I've removed the post and regret making the comments I did."
This was Lily Fontana's, the infamous make up artists apology after criticising Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's behaviour towards her on Facebook. Ms Fontana was quite scathing towards the PM on her Facebook page stating "One of them was absolutely lovely, engaged in genuine conversation with me, acknowledge that I had a job to do and was very appreciative. The other did the exact opposite! Oh boy, I have ever had anyone treat me so badly."
Ms Fontana is an example of how many individuals these days are treating the blogosphere as their personal diaries and using the forum to be cynical towards their place of work or people they encounter through work. James Richards and Katarzyna Kosmala suggest that "being cynical about work can give an employee a sense of control and attachment to their own occupation" and that "blogs appear to represent an opportunity to share" (2013). Place these two together and you have a recipe for disaster. Lacoste salesman Wade Groom was fired from his job after he posted a picture of his pay slip on Instagram, breaching the confidentiality agreement he signed when he first joined. Grooms defence? "I guess I signed a confidentiality agreement with something about social media, but who reads those?"
So despite the many stories that the fourth estate report on in regards to individuals venting online in the blogosphere, why do people continue to do it? According to Schoneboom "studies have shown that employees can detach themselves from the pressures of employment by making the use blogging platforms" (2007). People feel comfortable expressing their feelings in blog whereas they wouldn't feel as comfortable doing so in another situation, say to a union or senior member of staff. Because blogging is not a typical form of "corporate culture" (Richards 2013) people feel as if their blogging posts are unlikely to have very little implications. However, with the examples of Lily Fontana and Wade Groom the implications of cynicism towards the workplace online have great implications and should make people think twice before they hit "post".
References:
Richards, J., and Kosmala, K., 2013 ‘In the end, you can only slag people off for so long’: employee cynicism through work blogging’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 68 – 77.
Top Lacoste Salesman Posts Paycheck On Instagram, Gets Fired - Careers Articles. 2013. Available at:http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/08/07/top-lacoste-salesman-proudly-shows-paycheck-online-gets-fired/.
Make-up artist Lily Fontana slams"rude" Kevin Rudd after People's Forum thetelegraph.com.au. 2013. Available at:http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/special-features/makeup-artist-lily-fontana-slams-8216rude8217-kevin-rudd-after-people8217s-forum/story-fnho52jp-1226701851346.
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| The Lacoste employees payslip |
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| Lily Fontana's original post on the PM's behaviour |
A nice, succinct post, Emma! I definitely think a lot of people use blogging and social media as an online diary, not realizing the consequences. There are so many stories of workplace issues in regards to blogging but you used a great amount of recent and relevant examples. Things like that certainly make me think twice before pressing "post". I think as technology is continually developing, and as we see frequent news stories such as the examples you provided, (I hope) people will become more and more aware of the implications involved. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHey Emma,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great piece to read. Very informative yet easy to read. Your example of Lily Fontana was perfect for this week's blog post as it was very relevant to Australian issues at the moment and was all over the news! Great tie in! I agree with you in terms of thinking before you click post because your actions and words can always be taken in different ways by different people. i didn't hear about the other example of the man being fired for putting his pay slip on instagram! But thats crazy! It reminds me of things where people were fired for planking back when that was big haha! Social media elements are growing constantly and we all have to adapt to this and the consequences they bring.
Hi Emma,
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting for me to read. The choice of your topic appealed to me as well as the examples you used. As usual, your examples are always appropriate when explaining and justifying your opinion to a topic. I was particularly drawn to your blog when you used the example of Lilly Fontana. I am engaged in the life of politics so this example really did show how blogging can have disastrous effects. Furthermore, I liked the part where you talked about individuals blogging their inner thoughts in order to gain some sort of release. This is also considerably relevant and true because I am constantly bombarded with peoples inner thoughts on social networks! Ultimately, an insightful blog, but once again good job on the examples you chose!
I enjoyed reading your pithy, well written post this week, Emma. You’ve very quickly come to the point with your examples of workplace blogging and what it can mean for the blogger, and backed it up with scholarly references. Perhaps as more and more people suffer negative consequences when their employers or other media read their postings, blogger behaviour will modify. Once you hit ‘post’ it’s out in the ether. It makes you wonder where this urge to share in such a huge public arena will end. Should we all just learn to air our workplace grievances in a proper process within the workplace?
ReplyDeleteI really like the structure of your blog post, opening with an example that clearly states what the rest of the post will be about, then following it with a clear explanation with good references. The fact that you explained why people feel inclined and able to criticise their workplace through social media/blogs because they are considered separate and detached from one another was very interesting and complemented your discussion well. I think the images would have been better throughout the blog post to break up the text, especially because they are linked to the examples. Good post overall though.
ReplyDeleteEmma, this is a well-researched piece, with the utilisation of contemporary and relevant issues reflecting well on your argument. Essentially, I agree with your assertion that people, particularly employees, need to be wary of what they post on social media sites. I think this also rings true with those seeking employment, with it now widely-known some employers view a person's Facebook or Twitter account before hiring them. From the employer’s point of view, this is quite understandable, but it’s difficult to argue that this does not somewhat impinge on peoples’ right to freely express themselves. Thankfully, in Australia, we have stringent laws which protect employees’ from unfair dismissal.
ReplyDeleteHi Emma!
ReplyDeleteEmployment and social networking is such a hot topic at the moment so you've done an awesome at grabbing my attention. You provided recent examples that I could relate to and gave an objective stance on the issue which gave your argument credibility.
I am constantly bombarded with people's opinion's on social media, and I think that you're right in writing that because blogging is not a typical form of "corporate culture" (Richards 2013) people feel as if their blogging posts are unlikely to have serious implications. I think that with more awareness and education, people will soon come to the realisation that it is definitely the contrary.
Great work!
Hi Emma，your blog is really interested me in reading it. Your choose of topic is a good topic to talk about the issues with the employment in blogsphere. You draw good examples to explain your ideas and concepts. which is the example of Lily Fontana's blog. This gives the sence of how people post on the blogs in trms of discussion to be cynical towards their working place and people they encounter through work. I agree with your idea that people express their thinkings through work situations but they need to be thoughtful before post the blogs.
ReplyDeleteHi Emma,
ReplyDeleteNice post you have there. It is incisive, objective, and analytical. I would like to comment on one thing though; blogs are relatively a new concept that was not considered as effective and intrusive as it is now. Work place blogging has contributed immensely to the revision of the older organizational rules, regulations, and culture. Perhaps, it is healthy to note that in as much as employees may be concerned about oppressive regimes and unfair terms of employment; they should seek relevant and acceptable avenues for addressing such opinions.
Employees should be more cautious in the blogosphere as their actions may attract penalties now that digital connectivity has made it easy for one to friend his manager and even the boss’ spouse unknowingly. The use of social media has become a good headhunting ground such that both the employees and their superiors tend to share the same platform to air their dirty laundry. As such, any form of slander in the social media may be treated as a form of the unofficial transgressions in the underground of neoliberal working life (Richards, &, Kosmala, 2013, pp. 68 – 77).
As conclusion, I concur with Wade Groom that not all employees read their employment terms and condition when it comes to the lengthy conditionality about the social media usage (Sherman, 2013). Just as the lawyers say, the techno-legal time gap has made it easy for employees to say that they didn’t know, but the fact is that “Ignorantia juris non excusat or ignorantia legis neminem excusat” we cannot pled ignorance because ignorance is no defense. Everybody should read their employment terms and conditions especially about the social media however, lengthy or mundane they might be.
Overall , great post ! Well done !
Reference:
Richards, J., and Kosmala, K., (2013). ‘In the end, you can only slag people off for so long’: employee cynicism through work blogging’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 68 – 77.
Sherman, E. (2013, August 7). Top Lacoste Salesman Posts Paycheck On Instagram, Gets
Your post is a very relevant piece of writing as privacy on social media is simply just not as understood as it should be. With social media sites being used multiple times per day by each person for some reason it is still not understood that once something is written on the internet it may be deleted, but not erased. I agree with your point that people need to think before hitting the post button. Your use of this week’s reading to emphasise your point that people feel much more comfortable expressing their feelings in a virtual space rather than an actual face to face conversation.
ReplyDeleteHi Emma,
ReplyDeleteI thought your blog post this week was great. I love the introduction using the relevant example of Lily Fontana and Kevin Rudd, call me naïve but I had never heard or read about this upset before so I found it really intriguing. I feel this demonstrated perfectly how people do sometimes treat the blogosphere as their own personal diary, using it to be cynical in the work place. The use of quotes also added depth to your blog, great job
- Jules
Hello Emma,
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to take responsibility for our actions whether as our virtual selves or in person. Our online personas are just another part of our identity. I do understand how people can get caught up in social media and not realise the implications that can come from it. Being immersed in social media is completely different than verbalising in person to someone how you feel. In the case of Kevin Rudd, Ms Fontana used social media as a way to express her displeasure in how she was treated. Personally voicing her displeasure to Mr Rudd would have caused her angst. When someone posts their thoughts on social media there is a whole other domain to consider. It is an interesting topic and I think as a society we are only just beginning to understand the impact our virtual selves’ can have.
Regards Karina
Hi Emma! I completely agree that employees should be more cautious in the blogosphere as it may lead to termination of employment or penalties.
ReplyDeleteThe use of social media has become a place to express their feelings for both employees and surround colleagues. They all tend to resort to the blogging world to let go their negative, controversial and sometimes very conflicting/confronting comments. I believe it has only been recently that blogs have become more invasive, or perhaps people are only being affected more so now.
Overall a great post which is concise, easy to understand and is supported by appropriate visual imagery.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emma for the post.
ReplyDeletePosting own feeling online could make someone trouble. I think it is absolutely true. As the blogosphere is a “public space”, all netizens can access to the blog posts easily, despite encryption. Thus, I do agree that we should also behave ourselves in the virtual world. The case of Ms Fontana illustrates this idea well. I believe this is also very true in workplace. In the business sector, every company has its own confidential information. However, the convenient sharing platforms may make staff share this confidential information “accidentally”. People got into trouble after sharing photos about their jobs, work and companies is no longer news. There is such kind of problem in the army too. There is news that some soldiers uploaded photos in which they were wearing uniform and drinking or playing to the social network. This would absolutely affect the image of the army. And they would get into trouble finally for sure. The situation is more or less the same in the corporation. Wade Groom’s case can full exemplify this idea. Besides confidential information, blogosphere could be a “battlefield” between bosses and their subordinates. Actually, though ones may get angry about their work, airing the grievance online would only lead to horrible consequence. However, as mentioned above, according to the research result, blogging can help detach employees from the pressures of employment. Nevertheless, I would still recommend people not to express their feeling “blindly” in the blogosphere.
I like the examples in this blog post. They are good. And I highly appreciate that you really did some research on the topic. Well done.
Hey Emma, very cool post. I enjoyed reading it and have often wondered why people write things especially about work that could come back to bite them. Thought this was a really well structured and written piece as I had no trouble following it and having interest in it. Good examples to use showing the comments we make can have dire consequences. I would’ve liked some links to some of the references you used at thought the photo of Lily Fontana could’ve actually been in your piece and not after the references but other than that good stuff!!
ReplyDeleteHi Emma,
ReplyDeleteReally engaging post and very relevant to the topic. The example of Lily Fontana's negative post was a really good choice as it was in the media recently. The use of social media within the workplace is a very interesting topic and it was very enjoyable to read as it is essentially very new, and the repercussions of its use are only becoming known.
You followed the structure very well and it was very clear, as the post was very easy to read. The images were very relevant to what you were talking about, I just feel maybe including them above the reference list would be good as it can break up your paragraphs and provide examples for what is being read. Apart from that it is a really good blog post.
Hey emma,
ReplyDeleteI liked the instant focus on an actual event. Using Ms Fontana's situation as the background for your post made it very informative and solid. Not only do we all know what happened, but you backed it up with scholarly sources. The other two readings that you brought into the post again made it feel very researched and it effectively made it a concise post.
It would have been great if the pictures were within the post because it felt like they were just thrown in at the end to add a bit of life and presentation.
good work!