What you say on Facebook can be used against you

Friday, February 5, 2010

BY KELLY McGRATH

Staff Writer

BEDFORD – It isn’t unusual for people to think about checking their Facebook account at work.

The guilt crosses their mind as they wonder what would happen if they got caught.

Is the network being scanned? Can I check what my friends are doing quick and be OK?

But according to lawyer Ron Schneider, the risks between social media and the workplace have less to do with an employee updating their status while on their coffee break and more to do with the image they’re portraying through their profile information.

“It’s very hard to sometimes draw the line and realize what can get you in trouble,” Schneider said while leading a social media seminar Thursday in Bedford.

Bernstein Shur Labor and Employment Group’s series of seminar’s titled: “Avoid the Unexpected, Know the Rules” were held at the SERESC in Bedford.

Schneider titled his presentation about social media in the workplace: “Do you want to be my friend?” based on his experience when he first joined the popular Web site.

More than 52 million unique visitors have a Facebook page, and according to the presentation, two-thirds of 600 employees think colleagues share too much information on the social networking site.

“That line between personal and professional is blurred,” Schneider said.

Some Facebook users don’t realize their profile pictures are viewable to anyone searching for them, regardless of their privacy settings.

When employees affiliate themselves with where they work, they become an image of the company through photos, status updates and the information with which they populate their profile.

Schneider displayed an example of how someone’s profile pictures and their affiliation with a company can hurt the credibility.

He searched Facebook for a reputable company’s Web site.

Two friends affiliated with the company included a German shepherd and man wearing a bikini with a sign around his neck that read Jesus.

Status updates are also dangerous to someone’s employment within their company.

“People need to know that if you go on your Facebook page and are saying discriminatory things about the company, that they can’t do that,” he said. “You can tolerate that out at the bar, but you can’t tolerate them posting that on the Internet for all to see.”

Some suggestions Schneider made include following the company’s social networking policies, using privacy settings on the Web site and creating two pages: one for personal and one of professional reasons.

But similar to the dangers of what is written in an e-mail, Schneider left attendees with one final thought.

“Never, never, never forget that what you write is written; the written word does not lose its memory and cannot be denied,” he said.

Kelly McGrath can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 27, or kmcgrath@cabinet.com.