Cautionary Tales
Three recent articles in The New York Times reveal the perils of new media. In May, Anna Bahney reported on interns who found themselves in hot water for
blogging about the workplace without company permission.
In yesterday’s New York Times, Alan Finder reported that recent graduates are learning the hard way about new media’s reach. According to Mr. Finder, prospective employers “are looking up applicants on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Xanga and Friendster, where college students often post risqué or teasing photographs and provocative comments about drinking, recreational drug use and sexual exploits in what some mistakenly believe is relative privacy.”
And yet again today, reporter Tom Zeller Jr. weighs in with a discussion on "digital breadcrumbs." His article offers a warning to "an entire booty-shaking, blog-bleating, MySpace generation that might one day have reason to worry or wonder, years from now, whether some faraway cache or archive holds back ups of their cyber-indiscretions."
It is clear that the boundaries between private and public, professional and personal are becoming increasingly blurred. Online, what is inappropriate for a Boomer is perfectly acceptable for a college student.
While the lines may be fuzzy, the consequences are not. Interns have been fired, and applicants have been rejected – cautionary tales from The New York Times for a new generation entering the workforce. From my perspective, however, we need to take an even longer view on blogging and social networking. New media is not going away.
I for one do not advocate that interns blog about company matters without permission or reveal company secrets. And I certainly don’t condone offensive or inappropriate material on social networking sites.
But in all fairness, we are defining the rules of engagement for new media on the fly. We are also sending mixed signals. At one end, we hype the impact of new media as old line companies pay millions of dollars for new media properties and report that new media will reshape how we communicate and interact. At the other end, we raise alarm bells about blogs and personal pages. Today’s young adults need education and guidance, not punishment.
Ironically, for the time being, it seems new media is serving to preserve old ways of doing business.
Someday in the not so different future, today’s young adults will be making the hiring decisions. They may choose to follow our example or adopt policies more in keeping with their comfort level for disclosure. They in turn may be stunned by what their new hires are willing to reveal and how they reveal it.
We have an opportunity to teach workforce newbies as well as learn from them. I hope the lesson they learn from us is tolerance.
Let me get back to you.
In yesterday’s New York Times, Alan Finder reported that recent graduates are learning the hard way about new media’s reach. According to Mr. Finder, prospective employers “are looking up applicants on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Xanga and Friendster, where college students often post risqué or teasing photographs and provocative comments about drinking, recreational drug use and sexual exploits in what some mistakenly believe is relative privacy.”
And yet again today, reporter Tom Zeller Jr. weighs in with a discussion on "digital breadcrumbs." His article offers a warning to "an entire booty-shaking, blog-bleating, MySpace generation that might one day have reason to worry or wonder, years from now, whether some faraway cache or archive holds back ups of their cyber-indiscretions."
It is clear that the boundaries between private and public, professional and personal are becoming increasingly blurred. Online, what is inappropriate for a Boomer is perfectly acceptable for a college student.
While the lines may be fuzzy, the consequences are not. Interns have been fired, and applicants have been rejected – cautionary tales from The New York Times for a new generation entering the workforce. From my perspective, however, we need to take an even longer view on blogging and social networking. New media is not going away.
I for one do not advocate that interns blog about company matters without permission or reveal company secrets. And I certainly don’t condone offensive or inappropriate material on social networking sites.
But in all fairness, we are defining the rules of engagement for new media on the fly. We are also sending mixed signals. At one end, we hype the impact of new media as old line companies pay millions of dollars for new media properties and report that new media will reshape how we communicate and interact. At the other end, we raise alarm bells about blogs and personal pages. Today’s young adults need education and guidance, not punishment.
Ironically, for the time being, it seems new media is serving to preserve old ways of doing business.
Someday in the not so different future, today’s young adults will be making the hiring decisions. They may choose to follow our example or adopt policies more in keeping with their comfort level for disclosure. They in turn may be stunned by what their new hires are willing to reveal and how they reveal it.
We have an opportunity to teach workforce newbies as well as learn from them. I hope the lesson they learn from us is tolerance.
Let me get back to you.
Ad execs, CEO's, CFO's, stockholders -- the 'old-timers' and powerbrokers in the world of employment -- are sending the 18 - 34 year olds, their customers, the message that the quicker and easier you let us into your personal space, the more effective we'll be at getting you our product. But if you want to work for us, show some proper respect for decorum and don't reveal your intimate details.
It then becomes an unsustainable double-standard; barriers erased in the service of earning profits, condemned once adopted for the purpose of social networking.
The cautionary tale, then becomes, if you clamp down on the spontaneity of the blogosphere, be prepared to dramatically shrink your market. (Comment this)
Fact of the matter is that employees that get drunk at the bar down the street from the office have long been let go from the company for inappropriate behavior for the past X number of centuries. You just had to rely on eye-witnesses. Now, with posting on a blog, all eyes get to witnesses it.
I think employers want employees with common sense, whether entry level or senior execs - if you don't have it, the employee eventually goes away. Smart kids think about the consequences of what they do. This (Dan's posts and stories) serves as a notice to all of those that don't. Maybe they will. (Comment this)