‘I have no social skills. I have no filter between my mouth and my brain’

The lede could’ve described me in my youngers days
Many years ago
A few years ago
Several months ago
Two weeks ago
Yesterday
Well, maybe it continues to describe me. At least, that’s what the note in my personnel file says.

However, we’re not here today to talk about me…

Nope, today’s post marries two of my favorites: Premier League football (soccer) and social media dimwittery. Here’s the scoop from the Daily Mail:

In this interview with The Comet, Mr. Barker noted that the tweets followed a couple of beers. But, after recognizing his mistake, he deleted the tweets and apologized (err, apologised) profusely:

Still, you can imagine how this “moment of madness” impacted Mr. Barker’s employment. Or, should I say his old job. Once his team heard about the tweets, Barker had his position with the team “terminated with immediate effect.”

Thus, while this happened overseas in the land of Guinness and Samuel Smith, it could just as easily happen here with a few Budweisers, Four-Lokos, or just a bad a day at the office. Indeed, it did.

So, whatever the motivation, remind your employees that they are responsible for what they say and do online, on or off the clock; 24/7. And, as I’ve said before:

1. Generally, there’s no such thing as employee free speech, especially not on Twitter. (Although, when an employee tweets about working conditions, there may be issues relating to protected concerted activity)
2. When an employee does something dumb on Twitter, she compounds the stupidity by referencing her employer on her Twitter page and in her Twitter handle. Because, then the business is taking shrapnel too.
3. Ultimately, no amount of training will eliminate employee stupidity on Twitter altogether. However, no training at all will help your business grab headlines; although, not necessarily the one you want to make.

Image Credit: By Brian Minkoff-London Pixels – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link