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New Software For Employers To Monitor Facebook

Posted by Soulskill on from the poke-with-care dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The NY Times reports that a new service called Social Sentry has been released to monitor employees' Facebook and Twitter accounts for $2 to $8 per employee. The service also plans to support MySpace, YouTube and LinkedIn by this summer. 'Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, a research and advocacy group, called the automatic monitoring of social networking a "disaster," and predicted that it would lead to people being fired for online griping, the airing of political views and other innocuous conversation. There is a tendency to react to an off-color joke or complaint that appears online more harshly than to the same comment made in a cafeteria or company picnic.'"

7 of 342 comments (clear)

  1. Easy enough to avoid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Don't use Facebook on company computers
    2. Keep your profile private
    3. Don't post work related topics on other user's profiles (they may not be private)

    1. Re:Easy enough to avoid by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

      4) Have two names, one for work and one for home.

      (I learned this the hard way, since people called Archimedius Thrublepants-Kopovski aren't exactly common).

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Easy enough to avoid by JLavezzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've never understood the appeal in social networking.

      It's the white-listed email system everyone was speculating we'd need when spam got too bad.

  2. Hardly enough. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's hardly enough. Suppose you're an American who holds Democratic views. Your superiors happen to be hardcore Republicans (the fucking crazy kind).

    They're monitoring your social media profiles, and see that you've joined Facebook groups supporting health care reform, joined some groups opposing the illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, you've made some comments suggesting you think it's fine for homosexuals to marry and adopt children, and you once twittered a pro-abortion news article link.

    Now, they wouldn't have known this about you otherwise. But now they do know. Even if they don't fire you outright, they'll treat you differently, for sure. Maybe they won't trust you. Maybe they won't give you tasks that would allow you to further your career. After all, they probably don't like you any more, just because some political views you expressed differ from theirs.

    All that can happen without you using your account at work, without you discussing work-related matters, and even if you keep your profile "private" (which for Facebook these days seems to mean it's open to just about anyone...).

    1. Re:Hardly enough. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      WARNING! REPUBLICAN ALERT! REPUBLICAN ALERT! REPUBLICAN ALERT! WARNING!

      A WARNING TO ALL MEN: Protect your bumholes! There are Republicans out and about! Do not enter airport washrooms. Do not enter churches. Be on the alert for unprovoked sodomy. Keep your pants on at all times.

      A WARNING TO ALL WOMEN: Stay away from coat hangers, especially if pregnant. Hanging up clothes may be mistaken to be an abortion in progress.

      A WARNING TO ALL CHILDREN: Keep all science and math textbooks hidden, especially science texts that delve into evolution. Wrapping such books in a fake Bible cover is recommended.

    2. Re:Hardly enough. by twidarkling · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How's that a strawman? The GGP said "The exact same views." The GP pointed out a view that the founding fathers had, and pointed out how that exact view is no longer universally acceptable. That immediately destroys credibility, since you can't hold *all* the *exact* same views, unless you're down with slavery.

      Further, anyone who thinks the constitution is a dead document, never to be altered or changed is a fucking moron, in my books. The founding fathers never could have conceived of the world we live in today, nor of what would become hotly contested issues, and so never addressed it in the document. To hold today's world to a piece of paper that was never meant to address the state of current society is narrow-minded and specious at best.

      --
      Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
  3. This is not just happening INSIDE the workplace by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is not just happening in the workplace. Some employers are actively watching their employee's social networking pages when they are outside the work environment!

    My girlfriend was recently given a series of "guidelines" in which was outlined, procedures for proper social network use. Amongst those outlined, the guidelines state she cannot speak negatively of her employer, and may not even speak of public information such as stock price of the company. It also goes so far as to say she cannot make politically or religiously opinionated posts, and she may not post such content anonymously,

    At the end of this document composed of "guidelines" (their term) is a signature and date field, followed by the threat of termination of these guidelines are not followed. Guidelines my ass, it's a contract to limit her free speech outside the work place.

    We're at a lost as to what to do. Thus far she's refused to sign the document, and has attempted to contact the ACLU and several other organizations. Nothing yet so far.