Fired For Blogging? Not Exactly...
from the let's-clarify-a-bit... dept
There's been a ton of talk lately about the idea that people are getting "fired for blogging." It's almost become something of a meme, where those who were fired end up with extra credibility... just for getting fired (it's becoming a Donald Trump kind of world where "you're fired" is a badge of credibility). Of course, the whole idea of "fired for blogging" isn't exactly true. No one is getting fired for blogging; they're getting fired for what they say on their blog. It's like people who, for example, say something inappropriate at a conference about the company they work for. They're not getting fired for "speaking" or for "conferencing," but what they said. Now, of course, you can argue that what they said should not have been a firable offense, and that companies need to recognize that employees now have much louder virtual megaphones to use in bitching about their employment situation, but people aren't getting "fired for blogging." They're getting fired for what it is they say.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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sure...
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Unintended Consequences again
The thing here though is that people used to be accustomed to bitching or talking or whatever about where they worked freely, at least among friends. Combine that with the psuedo-privacy that I imagine a lot of bloggers feel and you don't have more or less violation of what was already allowed, you've just got a much more public (and searchable, which is at least as important) space for it.
I think that companies should start instituting blogging guidelines. I don't imagine people really WANT to get canned over this stuff, but I think they do really want to talk about what they do. There was a followup comment over on a Yahoo employee's (I think anyway, didn't care to follow up) blog that has a little interview with the most recent one and discusses how Yahoo is dealing with the blobosphere.
Don't take that as an endorsement of Yahoo though. I still think Google drop kicks its butt into the last century.
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Fair comment
I mean really, bag your employer online and what do you expect? a pat on the back for a job well done?
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No Subject Given
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Peace Corps volunteer fired for blogging
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Tech
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