Paul Harrison was quoted in an article by Charlotte Gill in the Daily Mail on the 4th April, highlighting why we should all be mindful of what we post online.   You can no longer treat your online communications as “private conversations” because online everything you say is published and potentially broadcast to thousands.

The full article is available here: One click to disaster: Ever moaned about work on Facebook? Or joked about your boss? It could end in a P45…

Paul believes employees need to be given strict guidelines as to what people can and can’t say on Facebook: ‘Unless firms are explicit about how their staff use social networks, it’s unfair for people who are not internet gurus. Facebook’s privacy settings are longer than the U.S. Constitution.’

More and more employers are using what’s said online in their recruitment decisions.  Don Leslie, from recruitment agency Beament Leslie Thomas was also quoted in the article, ‘People post things that maybe they shouldn’t, even years before they apply for the job but find that it’s difficult to erase from the internet. If they’re savvy they can block access to what people see on Facebook and other sites. But while some are savvy, some aren’t.’

Paul was also interviewed by BBC Radio on this subject. The interview can be heard from 17.30 minutes into the broadcast:

The internet has a long memory…think before you post. And be mindful of your privacy settings!

This is an enlightening presentation for anyone who is involved in social networking by Paul Adams, a UX researcher from Google.

Probably most relevant for someone who’s daily actions can be fairly consistently tracked on Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter and particularly those who want to keep their personal and professional lives separate online.

And while we are on the topic of social profiles, another great post you might like to check out is about knowing and maintaining your own social footprint effectively from Michelle Prak here.

Hot on the heels of considerable user concern about recent privacy changes (cleverly demonstrated by the already-notorious http://youropenbook.org/) Facebook has been burning the midnight oil with a “Privacy Redesign”.  Just got this email illustrating the advertiser perspective.

Hi Paul,

Facebook will roll out changes today that will make it easier for our users to understand and control their privacy settings. As this change will have an impact on our users, we wanted to let you, a valued advertising partner, know about it. Please note that this change will not affect your advertising campaigns and there is no action required on your part.

Facebook is a company that moves quickly, constantly innovating and launching new products to improve the user experience. The feedback we heard from users was that in our efforts to innovate, some of our privacy settings h ad become confusing.

We believe in listening to our users and taking their feedback into account whenever possible. We think the following changes address these concerns by providing users with more control over their privacy settings and making them more simple to use.

Starting today, Facebook will:

*	Provide an easy-to-use “master” control that enables users to set who can see the content they share through Facebook.  This enables users to choose, with just one click, the overall privacy level they’re comfortable with for the content they share on Facebook. Of course, users can still use all of the granular controls we’ve always offered, if they wish.
*	Significantly reduce the amount of information that must be visible to everyone on Facebook. Facebook will no longer require that users’ friends and connections are visible to everyone. Only Name, Profile Picture, Networks and Gender must be publicly available. Users can opt to make all other connections private.
*	Make it simple to control whether other applications and websites access any user information. While a majority of our users love Facebook apps and Facebook-enhanced websites, some may prefer not to share their information outside of Facebook. Users can now opt out with just one click.

I encourage you to take a moment to read our CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post and check out the new Facebook Privacy Page.

Thanks,
The Facebook Ads Team

We’ve all heard about how you should be careful about what you say about your boss on Facebook, we’ve even blogged about it in the past.

Well, if a case currently brought before the Industrial Relations Commission in Australia by a group of prison officers (dubbed the Facebook Five) is successful, you’ll be able to say whatever you like about your boss and maybe even the company you work for, and there’s not a lot they can do about it.

The case has sparked controversy about the private or public nature of social networking sites and claims employees have a right to privately comment about their boss. But surely no one really believes that slagging off your boss on the internet is as private as “in the bedroom after work with your spouse” do they?