Fired From Using Facebook?

MSN.com posted an interesting article today about people who have been fired because of their social media status posts.  

I ask...is this fair?  The internet is free speech right?  Yes and no.  The meat of the article claims that posting negative comments via Facebook and Twitter are public and can be used against you - especially comments about your job.  

For example.  An employee emailed his boss saying that he had an emergency around Halloween.  A couple days later, pictures of that person at a Halloween party surfaced - the day he supposedly had his "emergency."  The business took action by firing the person.  

In a situation like this the employee shouldn't have lied.  But at the same time a person should be able to take time off for whatever reason if they have personal time available.  Posting pictures of yourself dressed in a fairy costume makes him one crayon short of a full box.  And not because of the costume choice, but because a number of his Facebook friends are co-workers. 

Moving on... 

My friend at a local agency said she got a nasty email from her boss asking her to refrain from using text messaging and Facebook during work hours.  I'm shocked to hear this micromanaging from a media agency (especially when she wasn't using Facebook excessively).

As technology moves forward, social media is becoming a vital part in any business - especially businesses in media, advertising and sales.  If we plan on marketing social media we should be fluent in it.  Practice what we preach. But that's just my opinion.  

In the meantime, check out Social Media Pitfalls posted today on MSN.com and let me know what you think.  

Someone you know get Facebook fired?  If so, I want to hear their story.  Post a comment or send it to quinn.kathner@gmail.com.  

How Twitter Makes You A Kick-Ass Writer

As a copywriter, we often lean towards long copy.  It's no secret.  And I'm guilty of it myself. Projects that should take minutes to write turn into hours of long, drawn out copy that ends up on the cutting room floor.  

My problem? I take too many words to get to the point.  It's a rookie mistake, too, that's the burning part of it.  So how does twitter help us become better writers? Simple.  

Space.

With tweets, you've only got 140 characters so you'd better get to the point.  It's nice to have a limit so you know what space you're working with.  Before I start projects (after the creative process begins) I like to do mock-ups of where I want graphics and copy. 

Headlines.  

You also need to kick up your headlines to get attention.  Check out the headline.  See?  It's much more attention-grabbing than "How Twitter Makes You A Better Writer."  Blah.  Add some zing to your headlines.  

Edits. Edits. Edits.

I'm also guilty of writing tweet headlines in a flash.  Meaning it's easy to mistype words. And with only 140 characters, a typo reflects a rather high percentage of error. 

From space and headlines to edits, Twitter can help your short game writing. So have I convinced you to sign up for Twitter?