Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CAN GET YOU FIRED 1
Social media posts can get you fired. How careful should
employees be when using social media?
Jean Berno Elie
Dr. Yufeng Zhang
Millersville University
Fall 2017
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CAN GET YOU FIRED 2
Social media posts can get you fired. How careful should employees be
when using social media?
Executive Summary:
This paper discusses one of the most current and trending topics: Social media. It outlines the
importance of using social media the right way, for the right purpose; overall appropriately. This
paper details the consequences that result due to misuse or inappropriate use of social media
tools. However, it is mostly focused on how that affects people, mainly when it comes to their
career, finding or losing a job; how employers are using social media to scout; and, how it can all
be avoided. We all know how important social media tools (Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and
others) have been to us; however, a lot of us do not use it the way we are supposed to. There are
examples of how using social media the wrong way has affected others, and how it continues to
affect people’s careers, and personal lives. This research provides examples of the type of posts
that have caused problems, and that continue to do so. A lot of us are using these tools carelessly,
and are not being made aware of how that can be hurtful to us. That is a major problem. Thus,
this research report intends to increase the awareness of college students that are either currently
employed or thinking of looking for job positions, and employers who are mostly looking to
employ college students either for internships or any other career paths jobs, while focusing on
those who are in the Lancaster, and Millersville areas. A survey of a total of 65 students was
conducted as well as analysis of previous studies, and other sources to better support this
research.
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CAN GET YOU FIRED 3
Introduction:
As the years go by, the number of people using social media is increasing at a ridiculous rate;
people of all ages, races, colors, background, and ethnicity are making use of social networks.
The impact that social media has on our lives, either negative or positive, is sometimes
overlooked. When people use social networks, they open a door in their lives to the public. The
use of social media allows others to get a glance at someone’s life, give them an idea of their
daily activities, and sometimes provide locations of the users. Often, when people use social
media, it shows a lot more than just their activities because it can also reflect their point of view
of several issues.
Nowadays, hiring managers want to know everything that there is to know about their
employees, and those applying for job positions in their specific companies. As mentioned
above, using social media provides others with an outlet for information on such user, and that
outlet created by making use of social networks provide managers/employers with information
on their current employees, and those who are applying for job positions, candidates, at their
businesses. Therefore, it is very important that employees and those looking for job positions be
very careful of what they post on their social media pages.
To get a better understanding of the topic, and to better support the arguments, this research
report was done using both primary and secondary sources. The secondary sources included
articles, previous studies, direct quotes, and statistics from different sources.
The purpose of this paper, while highlighting the importance of using social media and the
benefits that it provides us, is to increase the increase the awareness of college students who are
either currently working or currently seeking for jobs/internships, overall any type of
employment, about what they face when using social media and why they should be careful of
what they post.
Background/More on the Issue:
Defining the topic.
Social media tools or websites, have been around since a couple of years, and every year the
number of people who use them is increasing. To define social media, in her article titled Social
Media @ Work: #policyneeded, Whitfield (2013) the stated following, “Essentially social media
is a category of media through which people talk, participate, share, network, and bookmark
online.” (Whitfield, 844). Social media includes the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Snapchat, and so on. They allow for better and easier ways to communicate with our beloved
ones all over the world, and provide ways for us to voice our opinion and be heard by publicly.
Significance of the study.
The following statement from Susan Ward will help us understand why we use social media so
much, “In my opinion, social media has shot to the forefront of people’s attention because it’s
fun. Thanks to social media, it’s easy to share your ideas … You can find friends, business
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CAN GET YOU FIRED 4
contacts and become part of a community or a bunch of different communities. Social media
gives you what TV never could – a chance to be engaged and engage others.” (2016).
Social media has drastically changed the way people interact with their friends, associates and
family members (Cohen, 2017). Although social media sites play a major role in our day to day
lives, some problems arise, especially when it comes to the workplace. In several instances,
employees have lost their jobs because of posts that do not represent the value of their company.
Although it is understandable that employees should be very careful of what they post, who they
mention on social media, employers also need to work towards making changes or creating
policies that can warn their employees and job applicants about what the organization expect
from them when it comes to their presence on social media.
Studying this topic is important because of the huge amount of college students who are using
social media networking sites. Sometimes we let the idea that the social media account is ‘our
personal’ account trump the fact that we should use it carefully; avoid posting or sharing
inappropriate contents that may tarnish your image. Since the usage rate is continually
increasing, it becomes more and more important to investigate the impact that it has on us,
especially on a professional (career) level.
Research Questions
1. Approximately what percentage of college students use social media?
