The difference between your personal and professional tweets? Nothing, really
Even if your Twitter account says the posted opinions don’t represent the views of your employer, your tweets can still get you fired.
For practical purposes, there is no difference between your personal accounts and your professional ones. If the words, photos, and videos you post to your personal accounts reflect badly on you or your employer, you may find yourself suddenly embroiled in a major corporate crisis—or, worse, out of work.
Just ask the executive from the PR firm Ketchum who tweeted, “I would die if I had to live here!” after landing in Memphis in 2009. He sent the tweet from a personal Twitter account, not an official Ketchum account. Unfortunately for him, his client in Memphis, Federal Express, saw the message.
They weren’t amused. The executive left Ketchum within a few months.
He’s far from alone. Consider these examples of other people who committed a major social media gaffe in 2011:
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today
Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.
