I read an interesting article today on PCWorld.com, about a former employee of Google, that was fired because of things he wrote in his blog. According to the article, Mark Jen was critical of some of Google’s practices and other things. Jen was hired on January 17. By January 28, he was no longer at Google. He posted to his blog on February 9, saying that he had been fired. IN the article, Jen says that he wasn’t really given any reason for his firing, and Google really didn’t disclose why Jen had been fired. Though they did say that he had worked at Google.
Last year, a flight attendant for a major airline was fired because of some pictures of herself in uniform, that she had posted to her own blog. Apparently someone from the airline saw the pictures and found them offensive.
It seems that talking about your boss or the company you work for, and then getting fired for it, might become a more common occurrence in this day and age. On the one hand, I can understand the temptation of talking about one’s boss. You want to vent, and by blogging, you can put your ideas down on “paper” and come away feeling a little better. The idea of being able to write my ideas on my own personal journal, is undoubtedly, very appealing to me, and I can see how blogging can get to be popular among people. However, I also understand that this type of journal is not sitting in my desk drawer. Instead, its out on the Net for anyone, anywhere in the world to read about—including my boss. Granted, I don’t know how often my boss might find herself reading my blog. But, I do know its possible. After all, I make it freely available, with a link from my site to my blog, and have heard from several people already that have said that they were going to bookmark my blog.
I’m not really sure how I feel about blogging in all of its forms, but I’d like to think that I’m smart enough to not blog about anything work related that might get me in trouble at work. I like my job; I like getting paid, :)
What do you think? Are blogs personal property and should they be kept as such? Or, is it wrong for someone to blog about employers? Should we be surprised from someone getting fired, because they blogged about the loss in profits that they’re company may or may not be facing?
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I feel that, as long as you are doing so on your own time, you should be able to blog about anything that is not work related without negative repercussions at work. This is, IMHO, a basic issue of freedom of speech. When it is work related, well, that's entirely another matter. It is no longer just about freedom of speech. It could hurt your employer or individuals at your workplace. I'd say it is clearly wrong to disclose your company's "trade secrets" on your blog, whether or not you are doing so on your own time. This is probably rightly not in the category of protected free speech. Just as it is not acceptable to yell "fire" in a crowded theater, it is critical to exercise good old-fashioned common sense and good judgment while blogging. Taking the need of good judgment into account, go ahead and blog away! It can be a lot of fun and informative to others around the world.
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