Would your paper be OK with this tweet?

too many "accidents" on Twitter...my work would not be okay with something like that whether it came through by accident or not would be irrelevant.

 

let's hope he was covering Dutch field hockey
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/dutch-field-hockey-popular-reasons-beyond-field-hockey-232321640--oly.html

and not gymnastics

 

I would be uncomfortable if one of our people dropped a tweet like that.

 

Is there an unattractive woman on that team?

 

I certainly hope you wouldn't be. That tweet is completely inappropriate.

 

How is this even a debate? There is no way that's OK, and it speaks on our business today if it is.

 

There is an informality that is associated with Twitter, yes. There is still professionalism expected from professionals who use Twitter as part of their jobs.

 

I don't blame him. I blame the skimpy water polo speedos.

 

This raises a larger issue. To what extent does an employer have rights to restrict what you post (or say) outside of your official duties? It has NEVER been addressed (pro or con) anywhere I worked. Do companies have official policies regarding it? Or sort of make it up on a case by case basis?

Can you get fired or fined for stuff like that?

 

Sure. Why not?

 

I'm not saying I have a real answer or opinion here. It's sort of the question of how much can an employer control your entire life. Sort of like the smoking question. Sure, an employer has the right to enforce a smoke-free workplace. But if you wanna go smoke at home, at a bar, wherever?

Where's the boundary between what you do as a professional whatever and what you do as a private citizen?

That said, I will readily admit Twitter is the dumbest thing ever and the stuff people write on there just boggles the mind sometime.

 

As best I can tell, it's not.