Twitter Hiring and Firing

Recently, there's been a few hires made over Twitter.

For example, Rainier PR recently hired the services of Matt Watson, and RedMonk offered a position to Tom Raferty - both hires made through Twitter (By the way, congrats to both Matt and Tom, and good luck in your new roles).

It looks like companies using Web 2.0 for their recruitment will be a trend we'll start to see more of, especially with the likes of Twitter and LinkedIn encroaching on recruitment agencies' turf.

But there is a darker side to this that is yet to rear it's ugly head: employees being fired for their activity on Twitter.

There have already been a few cases of employees getting fired over their Facebook activity. For example, Goldman Sachs trader Charlie Barrow became addicted and was fired for spending too much of his time on Facebook (or FaceCrack, as Charlie probably now calls it). He went as far as adding a warning letter from his employer on his profile.

Other examples are Penn State’s Daily Collegian columnist Zach Good, who was fired over comments made regarding a cancer fundraiser, and Canadian grocery chain employees Devon Bourgeois and James Woodwere, who were fired for making wisecracks admitting theft.

While there haven't been any cases of anyone being sacked for their Twitter usage (as far as I know anyway), there have been the signs that it's only a matter of time before someone does.

An aide to John McCain was suspended, not fired, for Twittering a link to a video linking Barack Obama to his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The rule of thumb must be that it is always dangerous ground to be talking about your employer in public. Even before the age of the internet this was true. In fact, it is even more dangerous in today's hyper-visible society, where employers can use Tweetscan or Summize to track what people are saying about them.

At the end of the day, if you are twittering at work, then you aren't working (unless of course that's what you're being paid to do).

Another question that has to be asked is that whenever someone is fired for their social netowrk usage - Facebook, Twitter, blogging or otherwise - was that the real reason they were fired, or was it just an excuse to fire them for some other problem?

Companies and organisations might start to produce rules or guidelines for their employees use of Twitter, along the lines of Facebook usage or blogging. Employees might even consider seperating their Twitter activity into two accounts - one for work and one for personal use.

While this example might be a bit extreme, it surely is a matter of time before companies start to address these issues as Twitter becomes more mainstream.

- Have you heard of any people getting fired because of their Twitter activity?
- Do you or your company have any guidelines when using Twitter at work?
- What guidelines for Twitter usage would you recommend at a place of work?

Update: Edelman are also hiring for their Tech division. Get in touch with @johnnybentwood for more info.