by Geoff Roberts
BOWLING GREEN – Ten years ago, the chances of a person losing their job for posting something to the Internet were very slim. With the explosion of social media however, the chances today are much greater as many companies monitor the social media of employees.
The vice principal at Purcell-Marian in Cincinnati learned how easy it can be to be fired for social media postings. On Feb. 11, the Catholic school fired V.P. Mike Moroski for creating a post on his personal blog in support of gay marriage.
In the news report of the incident, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Moroski showed poor judgment and the blog was in violation of the teachings of the Catholic church.
While students at Bowling Green State University were largely unaware of this specific story, the opinions of students range from understanding to mildly upset about the situation as well as the relationship between social networking and the workplace.
“I don’t agree with [the firing],” said John Rich, a junior special education major. “It isn’t any of the school’s business what he posts.”
Craig Blasiman, a senior accounting major, said the firing is reasonable. “It goes against the values of the Catholic church,” he said.
Blasiman thinks some employers should have control over what employees post to social networking sites, depending on the industry. He said if the post reflects the organization negatively, the organization should have the power to protect its identity.
The Moroski incident may resonate more with college students. According to “Journal of Technology Research”, 57 percent of social networking users are college-aged at 18-29.
Students also have to consider their own online identities as they get closer to the job search.
“I make everything private,” said senior athletic training major Kaylee Frey.
Frey said she is a regular user of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and logs on about 14 times per week. “If it’s not something you would show your parents, keep it off there,” she advised.
Frey plans to keep things the same later on in her career as well. “I will maintain the privacy settings. I may also delete the [accounts] I don’t use as much,” Frey said.
Junior visual communications technology major Steve Dibble plans to change the way he uses his Facebook and Twitter accounts when he advances far in his career.
“I’m going to use them to market myself positively,” Dibble said. He added that he will post about things related to the latest developments in graphic design.
Erik Paulson, a junior accounting major, said that he would have to change a few things. He said he has some pictures that friends have tagged him in that are “not flattering.”