The recent hoopla over the college student who wasn't awarded a degree because of a photo and caption that was placed upon her profile on MySpace, where she had the words "Drunken Pirate" underneath of a photo of her drinking at a halloween party, is an important lesson in using the Internet for those of us in business leadership.
The thing I want to talk about is the lack of judgement on the part of Stacy Snyder in this case. Now when you see the picture she is in, it looks fairly benign, but that's not the point here. She was a 27-year-old women that should have known better.
All over the Internet there have been warnings about people doing things on their Internet profiles that could come back to haunt them. For someone that is trying to become a teacher, to think that there is nobody watching and policing these types of sites is very naive.
The troubling thing to me in this is it almost seems like she thought this was some type of private act she performed, possibly like a young person not familiar with the reality that whatever is said or shown can potentially be seen by anybody with an Internet connection.
With the press covering a lot of the antics of teachers with students lately, this is especially a dumb move on her part.
For those looking to be successful business managers and leaders, this is something that needs to be taken seriously. The Internet has become a place that is considered a resource to check out the reputations of people. Consider that with anything you may be tempted to do. What you put up on the Internet could destroy your reputation.
Don't believe the thought that these types of things aren't important to people. If you're willing to put stuff up online about yourself that is risque, the company pictures their name next to yours in a possible future if they hire you.
Whether we think this is fair or not doesn't matter. The reality is that the Internet is now a human resources tool that is used by many companies. Don't do something that you'd be ashamed of seeing in the local newspaper about yourself. That's one of the things a company thinks of when hiring potential leaders.
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» Know More Media Review: Stacy Snyder's "Drunken Pirate" Round-Up from Know More Media
The world seems to be shrinking around us and our private lives are becoming less private as we expose ourselves on the Internet. I was always told to be careful what I put on the Internet because once its out... [Read More]
Tracked on: May 11, 2007 1:46 AM | Permalink to Trackback