OK, I have a question for you; Define Personal!
Think about this for a minute, actually, take an hour, a day, but really think about this. What Does Personal Mean?
The reason I am asking is because of Laraine Cook and Tom Harrison. They are both coaches at Pocatello High School in Idaho. Laraine was fired after a picture of her and her boyfriend (though I’ve also seen him referred to as fiancee) were posted on Facebook showing them in an embrace with Tom’s left hand on her right breast.
Someone took the picture and sent it to the School Board and Laraine was fired while Tom was reprimanded. Now before you scream Double Standard, that isn’t the point. It’s clearly a Double Standard, but the debate here is What is Personal?
There are currently 1.23 Billion people with Facebook profiles. If Facebook was a country, it would be the Third Largest in the world. Let’s face it, the reason people are on Facebook is that they like to share and read what other share while others, like me also use it to promote business. So what is Personal?
We don’t know all the facts about Laraine Cook’s Facebook Profile and if she had high school students in her friends network (I highly suggest adults don’t have anyone under 18 in their friends list – and I should follow my own advice here), but again, that’s not the question. What is Personal?
Facebook redefined the Internet and Social Media. Facebook is also redefining the interaction between Work Life and Personal Life. Many of us have people we work with in our Friends list as well as our personal friends. Somewhere around 2009 / 2010 I, as a Real Estate Broker, was told by the National Association of REALTORS to create two accounts. One for Business and One for Pleasure and the two should not share the same people. Only problem with this is that that is in direct violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service.
Registration and Account Security
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:
- You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
- You will not create more than one personal account.
I other words, if you want to be on Facebook, you can not have two accounts. Oh, and in my case… you are also not permitted to advertise, self promote or otherwise engage in money making opportunities from your Personal Account. That is where Pages come in. They are for commercial use.
So again I ask, what is personal? I first began seeing a conflict when a group of Police Officers in a nearby town were fired for something they posted on their Personal Facebook Account. Another officer who had made one of those “second accounts” was also fired even though the posts were not in his real name. Simply do a Google search “fired for Facebook post” and you will have a weeks worth of articles to read, but that was just the beginning. Then things began to get ugly.
It was 2010 when I first heard about someone being forced to provide their Facebook Password to an employer so said employer could scan the employees private Facebook account to make sure the employee did not violate the employers Terms of Service even though this was a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service. This began a movement, but not like you would expect. Once it hit the mainstream media , employers from all over the world grabbed hold of this and began to institute it, but people began to fight back, but since we were in the middle of a Recession and jobs were scarce, people were agreeing to anything for the chance to have a paycheck, even if that meant they would give up every right to privacy they once had in their personal lives. But that wasn’t the ugly part, that came next. Employers began adding “Social Media” or “Moral” clauses to their employment contracts with the employees dictating exactly what an employee could or could not do when not on the clock. Nothing was off limits now. Employees became owned by their employers.
Now most f us are familiar with Moral Clauses, every celebrity that has ever been fired from a project was fired over the Moral Clause and I will admit that some of these clauses are good. For example, I don’t want employees coming into work after a weekend fueled by illegal drugs binge any more than I want them coming on after a weekend fueled by anything that will affect their job performance. I also don’t want my employees getting arrested as that might be a bit distracting from the task at hand. I would also not want to see my employees protesting against my business in their spare time. But where does this stop?
Let’s say that I am against the consumption of any type of alcoholic beverage. Do I have the right to demand that all my employees refrain from ever taking a sip? What if I am against the use of recreational vehicles as they waste gas, could I ban you, my employee from doing that? Hey, what if my religion does not believe women’s bodies should be uncovered except in the eyes of her husband, can I prevent you from going to the beach in a bikini? But rarely are “Social Media Moral” Clauses ever so detailed. They prefer to leave it a bit more vague so I can determine, like what happened to Ms. Laraine Cook, on a case by case basis and fire one person while letting another stay on. But again, that is not the question here. The question is; What is Personal?
Well first we need to understand the definition of Personal. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary the definition is as follows:
per·son·al
adjective \ˈpərs-nəl, ˈpər-sə-nəl\
: belonging or relating to a particular person
: made or designed to be used by one person
—used to describe someone whose job involves working for or helping a particular person
1: of, relating to, or affecting a particular person : private,individual <personal ambition> <personal financial gain>
2 a: done in person without the intervention of another; also: proceeding from a single personb: carried on between individuals directly <a personal interview>
3: relating to the person or body
4: relating to an individual or an individual’s character, conduct, motives, or private affairs often in an offensive manner <a personal insult>
5 a : being rational and self-conscious <personal, responsive government is still possible — John Fischer>
b : having the qualities of a person rather than a thing or abstraction <a personal devil>
6: of, relating to, or constituting personal property <a personal estate>
7: denoting grammatical person
8: intended for private use or use by one person <a personal stereo>
So let me ask you again; What is Personal? People often confuse Personal with Public, but as we see above, no where in the definition does it state that Personal means private. It can mean for private use, but it does not say only private use. So that means we need to look up Private.
pri·vate
adjective \ˈprī-vət\
: for the use of a single person or group : belonging to one person or group : not public
: not relating to a person’s official position or job
: not known by the public or by other people
1a : intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class <a private park>
b : belonging to or concerning an individual person, company, or interest <a private house>c (1) : restricted to the individual or arising independently of others <private opinion>
(2) : carried on by the individual independently of the usual institutions <a doctor in private practice>; also : being educated by independent study or a tutor or in a private school <private students>d : not general in effect <a private statute>
e : of, relating to, or receiving hospital service in which the patient has more privileges than a semiprivate or ward patient
2a (1) : not holding public office or employment <a private citizen>
(2) : not related to one’s official position : personal<private correspondence>b : being a private
3a : withdrawn from company or observation <a private retreat>b : not known or intended to be known publicly : secret
c : preferring to keep personal affairs to oneself : valuing privacy highly
d : unsuitable for public use or display
4: not having shares that can be freely traded on the open market <a private company>
OK, so now we are getting somewhere. Private does mean Not Public, but it also says group. Facebook has groups, does it not? Each of my friends are in specific groups. But this raises more questions. It does say Not Public. Looks to me like we need to see what Public means. Here we go.
pub·lic
adjective \ˈpə-blik\
: of, relating to, or affecting all or most of the people of a country, state, etc.
: of, relating to, paid for by, or working for a government
: supported by money from the government and from private contributors rather than by commercials
a : exposed to general view :openb :well-known, prominentc :perceptible, material2a : of, relating to, or affecting all the people or the whole area of a nation or state <public law>b : of or relating to a governmentc : of, relating to, or being in the service of the community or nation3a : of or relating to people in general :universalb :general, popular4: of or relating to business or community interests as opposed to private affairs :social5: devoted to the general or national welfare :humanitarian6a : accessible to or shared by all members of the communityb : capitalized in shares that can be freely traded on the open market —often used with go7: supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by income from commercials <public radio> <public television>
What is Personal?Oh sorry, did you think I was going to answer that for you. HELL NO! After all, you’d be getting the answer from someone who is Self Employed and has no problem with the picture above, especially when I have far better 😀 on my pages. See, I don’t have an issue with the human body and I don’t think it needs to be hidden from view. That’s my opinion and yours may vary. But more importantly, I’m self employed. No one can fire me and those that hire me either find amusement in how I live my life or they simply ignore it and appreciate what I bring to the table. Others, like Laraine Cook and Tom Harrison are not so lucky. A cute couple, enjoying a vacation and now they are an Internet Sensation enduring 15 minutes of fame they would both rather avoid.
I do hope that you can see that its a very grey area and that the very first thing you should do RIGHT NOW is to open a new window, go into your Facebook Settings and make sure everything is set to Friends or below. Learn how to use Custom Groups. This is handy for people that want to post pictures of their family, but do not want others to see. Or perhaps you have an alternate personality you don’t want all your friends to see. I’m thinking some of my friends would really love for me to do this as they cringe anytime I’m near the water just knowing my bare ass will be in a picture somewhere, but sorry – I won’t, but you should and for that reason, I’m posting this handy link:
So how many of you are curious about the couple that began this article? I bet many are and I predict one of two things will happen. This highly decorated and successful coach will get her job back with a stiff warning not to ever let another human begin ever see them being human or they will simply fire him too and end the Double Standard they created. But there is more…ah yes, a lot more.
See, there is one thing you need to remember, EVERYTHING you post on line be it Facebook, a Blog like this or a website. EVERYTHING is permanent and even if you delete it, its still out there in some search engine. On top of that, anyone can click on a picture and save it, even if its Private. Some people are smart and know how to disable the Right Click, for those, I can simply take a screen shot. In the case above, it was stated that the original picture was taken down rather quickly, but that did not stop someone from stealing it and sending the picture to the Board of Education.
Until we get our priorities right as humans and until laws are passed to prevent anyone from getting fired for doing something legal in their private life, many people will have to avoid not only Social Media, but life in general. See, if I get a picture of you doing anything that your employer might find offensive and send it to them, even if you did not take the picture or know I was taking the picture, you can and will be fired.
So I will leave you all with this…
Let’s get out of other peoples lives. If they are not purposely hurting someone or something or calling for others to hurt someone or something, leave them be. Live your life and just Be Happy!
