TWITTER GOT THIS SOCCER MANAGER KICKED OFF THE TEAM

Vanderlei Luxemburgo, team manger of the Palmeiras, a Brazilian football (soccer) team was fired from his position after letting out his feelings about the trade of his players, Keirrison. Keirrison had been in negotiations with the team FC Barcelona and was pretty much guaranteed to transfer to their team soon. In response, Luxemburgo took to Twitter and said, “Keirrison didn’t show up to training. He also didn’t give me an explanation. If he isn’t sold (to FC Barcelona) he won’t play for me again.” And shortly after the Palmeiras fired Luxemburgo.

Bashing someone you work for on Twitter is no good. Perhaps it was another incident where one is jaded by the fact that Twitter in online and they think no one can find them. Or maybe he really didn’t care if his team knew his real feelings. But if that is the case then the team felt no need to care for his feelings or his well-being or his livelihood and they let him go. But simply put, Twitter is not the place to blow off steam because once its out there you can’t take it back. If you say something that would get a reaction from people face to face, you can expect a reaction when you are face to face and it may be worse than it would’ve been if you just kept it off Twitter in the first place.

Do you think the soccer team should’ve sacked Luxemburgo?

CPK EMPLOYEE’S TWEET GETS HIM SERVED THE BOOT

Timothy, an employee at California Pizza Kitchen was less than impressed with the new uniform at the restaurant and he decided to voice his thoughts on Twitter. Under the handle @Traphik, Timothy tweeted, “@calpizzakitchen black button ups are the lamest shit ever!!” The tweet received a hasty response from the company. Using Timothy’s bio information on Twitter the managers of the CPK account found the Long Beach branch where Timothy was working and had him fired. Timothy did create a youtube video to tell his side of the story and in it he doesn’t seem all that het up about it.

 There had to be some other factors to this story in order for Timothy’s termination to be just. Either this was not have been his first offense or the managers were especially upset that he used a bad word in his tweet. But if they didn’t care how the employees felt about the uniform then Timothy saying how he felt shouldn’t have made a difference to them. Or maybe CPK really is that worried about their reputation that they think one employee’s tweet could harm them. Either way this CPK’s rationale in this seems to be a few cards short of a deck. But afterwards Timothy didn’t express too much concern about being let go so maybe it was good timing for everyone.

Watch Timothy's response here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_TJ-V8wI7Sk#at=14

Do you think CPK made a mistake?

A NO GOOD TURKISH RETWEET

In Turkey, Vodafone employee Muller Tamas was in charge of the company’s Twitter account but foolishly thinking made a joke about their competitor and thus lost his job. One day T-Mobile was having some software problems, causing their network to be down. In order to keep their customers up to date on the situation they were using Twitter to let them know that they know there’s and issue and that they are working on it. But when Muller found this he made a bad judgment call and decided to retweet T-Mobile’s tweet and add a little joke to it under Vodafone’s account. Muller tweeted, “Ok give us a ring! ;) RT @tomobilehungary There will be an official statement (released) about the network problem. Please be patient!” When Vodafone found this they were extremely upset and fired Muller right away.

For people with their own personal Twitter accounts they can make jokes like that whenever they want about whomever they want. But when a company has a Twitter account they use it to give their brand a personality as well as another way to reach their customers. And when you’re in charge of such an important function of the company you have to realize how important a responsibility that is. But Muller took it lightly and perhaps thought that he would be praised for the jab at the competition. But his plan backfired because this was business and any and all jabs in business have to be sneaky, not broadcasted all over the Internet.

Do you think Muller should’ve been fired when his joke backfired?

CONTRACTOR D.O.E.S HIMSELF IN ON TWITTER

Contractor David Le lost his job due to irresponsible posts he made to Twitter about his work in Anacostia. Le was working as a participant service specialist for the D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES). Over the course of a month Le tweeted offensive comments such as, “In America’s ghetto Anacostia… If I get scared I will just yell Chinese carryout! They will not shoot me.” He also tweeted about his slacking on the job saying, “Thank goodness my boss is making things easy, he told me to pretend to do work so he can mark me down for hours.” David Hoffman, owner of an employment placement firm, discovered the tweets. He brought the posts to the attention of The Washington Post and the Post showed it to Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. She found the messages “unprofessional, wrong and racist” and saw to it that Le was let go. And after being fired Le changed the settings on his Twitter feed to private.

It makes no sense why David would post such awful things on his Twitter. Those were such mean comments, who did he think was being entertained by it? It’s as if he didn’t really want to keep his job. Le’s actions indicate that he thought he couldn’t be found out online. But to the contrary he was revealing himself every time he posted one of those cruel tweets. Twitter is not for opening your mouth and telling the world how you really feel or sharing secrets people have no business finding out. If you wouldn’t say it out loud, don’t say it on Twitter. It’s not a journal, it’s a website.

Do you think David’s tweets should’ve resulted in his termination?

DON’T SWITCH TEAMS ON TWITTER

CNN editor responsible for Middle Eastern coverage, Octvia Nasr was fired after she tweeted her support for a late Lebanese cleric who is believed to be the inspiration to the Hezbollah movement. Nasr tweeted, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.. #Lebanon.” Fadlallah was an anti-American that was linked to bombings that took the lives of over 260 Americans. But what Nasr says she was referring to was his work in the Middle East disbanding “honor killing” of women and gaining the right for women to hit their husbands if attacked first. Nasr had worked for CNN for 20 years and occasionally had the opportunity to appear on air to discuss Middle Eastern news, but because of one overly simplistic tweet it was decided that Nasr’s position had been compromised and she had go.

In this case, Twitter was the absolute wrong place to share your opinion. The first reason why is because 140 characters was not enough space to explain what she meant and what she was referring to. The audience she tweeted to probably has no idea about the riddance “honor killing” or the new right for women to protect themselves in the Middle East. Anyone who would read that would automatically think about what the news portrays. She also hurt herself here with an extremely poor choice of words. By saying she “respect(s)” him people believed she was on his side not the American side, considering he was against Americans. Twitter is a vague platform. Only obvious statements should be posted. She tried to make people think about a complicated issue via a place designed for people not to have to think and that was her big mistake.

Do you think Nasr compromised her position?

YOU ARE WHAT YOU TWEET

Twenty-two year old Connor Riley, a graduate student at the University of California lost her job right after she got it when she wrote about it on Twitter. After being offered a job at networking company Cisco, Riley decided to tweet, “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.” And once Tim Levad, a channel partner for Cisco Alert discovered this he gladly passed her comment along to her hiring manager. Not that this wasn’t enough to embarrass her, but her page was not at all private and immediately Riley became a laughingstock on the Internet and earned herself the name “Cisco fatty.”

This is a classic example of when someone thinks they’re extremely clever and want the world to see it, but instead it backfires horribly. When I read her tweet it looks to me like something that sounded funny but only as a joke and the problem there is companies don’t like to joke about their reputation. All they want to see is that you love their business and everything they do. Anything else will certainly draw attention, especially at a place that hires people specifically to monitor chatter about it online. People need to realize that just because you think you thought of something clever you don’t have to share it, just keep it to yourself. And secondly we don’t live in a world with privacy anymore. If you can find out information about anyone then anyone can find out information about you, so make sure what they find is something you want them to see.

Do you think the “Cisco fatty” bit off more than she could chew too?

CAREFUL NOT TO END YOUR CAREER BEFORE IT STARTS

Nick Swoden, an Australian Young Liberal’s member was expelled from the Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) after calling President Obama a “monkey” on Twitter. A few minutes after the start of the President’s interview on ABC TV’s Report with Kerry O’Brien, Swoden, a medical student at the University of Queensland tweeted, “I’m not sure why they paid Kerry to fly to America, if they wanted an interview with a monkey surely a Ferry to Taronga would have sufficed,” (referring to Taronga Zoo on Sydney Harbor). Upon discovering this, the LNP held a meeting to discuss Nick’s actions and found that he brought the Party into disrepute. And the party resolved to “expel him from the Liberal National Party,” and thus ending any hope for a career in politics Nick ever had.

Nick says, “I think the people follow me know (it’s a joke) and the people who are my friends know and the people on Twitter don’t unfortunately.” But if that’s the case then why did he make this comment on Twitter? The comment seems purely racist and if he is that’s his choice but if you don’t want people to know then don’t “joke” about it on the Internet. You can only use 140 characters on Twitter. Because of this it can be difficult to convey jest or really any emotion for that matter. Nobody can tell how you’re saying what you’re saying. All they can do is read your words and draw their own conclusions. Word of advice: if you can’t say what you mean on Twitter in your 140 characters don’t post any characters at all. Guess it’s a good thing he’s getting a Medical degree because politics is really an option anymore!

Do you think the LNP was right to have Nick removed from the party?

COMEDIANS SHOULD SAVE THEIR STAND-UP FOR THE COMEDY CLUBS

Aussie comedian, Catherine Deveny got the boot from Melbourne Newspaper The Age after sparking outrage by “attacking” the late Steve Irwin’s daughter Bindi Irwin via her twitter account. Deveny was commenting on the various celebs she noticed arriving at the Logie Awards when she tweeted, “I so do hope Bindi Irwin gets laid #logies.” That night Deveny made comments on lots of stars but this tweet seemed to be the step too far and she was fired. Her ex boss, editor Paul Ramadage said in a statement, “We are appreciative of the columns Catherine has written for The Age over several years but the views she has expressed recently on Twitter are not in keeping with the standards we set at The Age.” Yet again someone is fired because they think what they say on the Internet is harmless.

Comedians are known for their cutting remarks. They purposely don’t hold back to get the biggest reaction from their audience. But those comments are best saved for when they are solely representing themselves, and here Deveny forgot that she’s never not representing her work. It would not have been so bad if she were doing a stand up show and she made this comment because people would be expecting crass language, but over the Internet a comment like that barely ever gets communicated the way you would want it to. The audience couldn’t see her when she said it and they couldn’t see what she was seeing when she said it. It was completely unexpected and all they saw was a columnist for their newspaper making crude comments. Maybe firing her was a bit drastic but this may not have been her first strike and suggesting that a 12 year old have sex was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Good news is now she can say whatever she wants on Twitter.

Do you think Catherine the comedian should have been let go?

WHAT HAPPENS ON TWITTER, DOES NOT STAY ON TWITTER

TBK, a 37-year-old single mother, was fired from her day job after only a month of working there once her St. Louis area nonprofit employer discovered she was a sex blogger. How did they find out this information? On Twitter of course. TBK says that she was excellent at keeping her office life and her extracurricular life separate. But when creating her Twitter account TBK put her real name and for some reason expected only her handle to be visible. When she saw that her name did show she went back to delete it and she thought by doing so had solved the problem. But it was too late. The Twitter search engine Topsy already had cached all the details and her name remained next to her handle. And when her boss, googled information about his employees he discovered her Twitter account that included tweets about her fetishes of the day, other erotic material and links to her sex blog. And when she came to work the next day, she was fired immediately.    

It goes without saying that trying to live a double life on the Internet is not smart. People have to realize that once they put their information out there, they cannot take it back. The Internet is just as, if not more public than broadcast television or radio. Anyone can find anything that is uploaded onto it. And while the subject matter of her blog may seem inappropriate, by most, there are some who may find it of interest. However, if someone chooses to be an icon in that realm they can’t expect to be able to carry on the same lifestyle as prudent people. She instead should have chosen work where her reputation wouldn’t be so critical. Good luck.

Do you think the subject matter of TBK’s blog should have affected her employment status?

TWITTER’S NOT FOR TIRADES

After a Sunday night baseball game Sports radio 1310 “The Ticket” talk show host and former MLB player Mike Bacsik was fired from his job after expressing his feelings about the Dallas Mavericks loss to the San Antonio Spurs. When the Mavericks lost the irritated Bacsik tweeted, “Congrats to all the dirty Mexicans in San Antonio.” The story aired nationally on CNN and the next Tuesday Bacsik said he understood why he was fired; he just wished he had a few minutes of airtime to apologize. Bacsik also said he was drunk at a bar that night and after the game was when he started his tweeting tirade. But Bacsik says, “I learned my lesson. I’m owning up to what I did. I did a horrible thing. I’m very sorry and will try my best for my actions to speak louder than my tweets.”

Obviously Twitter is not the place to express your racist positions, especially someone who works in front of the public eye. He probably does really regret it, but is it just because he was fired? The next day did he feel the need to take it down and apologize? We’ll never really know, but we do know that a lot of times how people really feel slips out when they’ve been drinking. And no matter how sorry he was for his remarks he’s now revealed himself as someone with a somewhat negative disposition toward another race and in that case he certainly cannot represent the radio station anymore.

Do you think Bacsik should still have his job? 

TWEET ABOUT JANE ADAMS... LOSE YOUR JOB

Barney Greengrass waiter, Jon Barrett Ingels, claimed the loss of his job due to his twitter post about “Hung” actress Jane Adams. Barney Greengrass, located in Beverly Hills, CA is frequented by celebrities and under the Twitter name PapaBarrett, Jon would talk about who he saw as he waited tables there. And when Jane Adams visited Jon tweeted, “Jane Adams, star of HBO series “Hung” skipped out on a $13.44 check. Her agent called and paid the following day. NO TIP!!” Jon also says Adams did return a month later to tip. But Barney’s corporate found his Twitter account and pushed his manager to fire the waiter of five years, despite the fact that he never said where he worked in any of his tweets.

There was no reason for Jon to be fired. He didn’t do anything that the press doesn’t do everyday. He spotted a celebrity and talked about what they did. He was simply telling the news. It seems that the restaurant should have had a more outraged reaction to this. What if Adams hadn’t sent a representative to pay it? Then they lose money as well. The customer may always be right but even when they don’t pay? Maybe the company should have protected their employee on this one, rather than throwing him under the bus over 140 characters. Jon says, “I understand they want to keep a safe environment for the celebrities and I think that I broke that safety. Had they come to me and said you need to take this down or change it to private, had I been told if you don’t do this, you’re going to lose your job, I would’ve done that.” Jon was Barney Greengrass’ side. They should have been on Jon’s side too.

Since the firing Jon has tweeted, “Working at the LA Opera today. WooHoo a job! That is all that I’m gonna write about THIS job.”

Do you think Jon deserved to lose his job?

@CHRYSLERAUTOS' FOUR LETTER FLUB

The Chrysler Company hired social media strategist Scott Bartosiewcz to manage their social media affairs eight months ago. All was going well until one day in early March on his way home and stuck in traffic Scott tweeted “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f*cking drive.” Scott meant for the tweet to appear on his personal account but he mistakenly sent it to the Chrysler brand’s feed. The flub resulted not only with Scott’s dismissal but Chrysler also let go of his employer, New Media Strategies, a Virginia based marketing firm.

Everybody makes mistakes, and if the public were a more forgiving audience Chrysler should have been able to keep Scott and New Media Strategies because they have been doing an excellent job for Chrysler. But people like to overreact to any little thing they can and Chrysler knows this. In order to avoid the unwanted press and loss of business that Chrysler invested so much into to building, Scott had to go. And Scott says he understands Chrysler’s position.

Chrysler apologized via twitter writing, “Our apologies- our account was compromised earlier today. We are taking steps to resolve it.”

Do you think Chrysler took the right steps to resolve it?

REALGILBERT TWEETS HIMSELF OUT OF JOB

The TV voice of the popular Aflac bird, Gilbert Gottfried has been fired for his insensitive Tweets about Japan on Twitter.  Gottfried wrote, “Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them." Apparently he thought the tweets were just funny, not mean. But while Gottfried has been spokesperson for Aflac for 10 years now, 75% of Aflac’s business is done in Japan and thus Aflac had no choice. But even if the company didn’t have so much presence in Japan they most likely would have gotten rid of him anyways.

The tweet was a bad move on Gottfried’s part. Because he is a comedian he probably approaches issues like these with a lighter heart than most but he failed to take into consideration peoples real devastation.  But a lot about being a comedian is about timing and this comment came way too soon. But now Gottfried has his own new crisis. He needs a new job and someone who would consider hiring him after all this. Hope he can find the comedic relief in that.

Turns out he may have, yesterday (March 21, 2011) RealGilbert tweeted: “I’ve got it! A new version of Full House with me, @charliesheen and Mel Gibson!”

Do you think Gottfried should have been fired for his 140 characters?