It’s frustrating watching people say whatever they want about their bosses or work on social media platforms. This week has been nothing short of crazy when it comes to work and social media usage. One of our moist popular posts to date has been the Facebook firing of a employee who friended her boss on Facebook and called him out while she was still on a six month trial period. The outcome of that meltdown of course cost her the job. Yesterday I was looking at twitter and just searching for some tweets to see how many people actually say as they please on twitter in regards to their work and bosses, the results are overwhelming. Give it a try sometimes on twitter search with phrases such as “I hate my boss” or “I hate my work” etc. and you will get an idea.

First thing first, although you may not be following your boss on twitter, he/she may be following you. Secondly, you can set your twitter account to private but the fact that anyone can have a completely anonymous account and has a chance to be friended by you without you knowing he/she is your boss can’t be ignored. Although companies and bosses may not admit, it’s a fact that you are being watched on social media space. If I were hiring someone I wouldn’t hesitate quick “googling” their name just out of curiosity. And google will show your tweets and accounts on different social media platforms. Initially, I had planned on compiling quite a few tweets that showed people ranting freely on twitter about work and bosses but I just can’t seem to find it funny anymore. I mean it’s a serious issue that people are lacking this knowledge on how to utilize these platforms so as not to jeopardize their work, especially in this economy.

Some people are hating their bosses and freely expressing it on twitter because their boss makes them work on a Wednesday. I have yet to figure out why that would be a problem but I guess it is. There has many instances of people getting fired over or getting denied a job over tweets and Facebook updates, so it would seem obvious that many have realized the complications that comes with letting your privacy go on the web. Whether it’s the guy who tweeted about the Cisco job he had just landed, the lady who faked she was sick and made sure the world saw on Facebook how she lied to her boss or the woman who called her boss a “pervy wanker” who happened to be her boss’ on Facebook, it’s a problem that seems to rise day by day. Each month a news breaks out that somebody got fired or got denied job due to their careless use of these platforms.

Do keep in mind that whether you set your privacy settings or not, there are ways to go around it. And in all honesty, people don’t really seem to care to express how they feel unless they see consequences and after that someone learns a lesson and everyone else ends up laughing at it. It’s funny and hilarious to see someone do such a stupid thing when but when numbers rise and tweets and updates start costing people their means of livelihood, it’s an issue and a serious problem.

Be wise and think before you say anything on these platforms. Use them to connect and create meaningful relationships, not to wreck relationships that you already have.

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