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Mike Elgan Originally shared by George Kozi Question: In this connected world is it allowed a...


G+_George Kozi
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George Kozi, how would my boss (or other authority figure) know what social media I am usually using?

 

Why would my boss even suspect I was taking a day instead of believing I am really sick?

 

What kind of work would I have to be doing for my boss to be interested in catching me online while I am sick?

 

Why would my boss want me to be at work when I am sick? Being online while sick at home might just be the same as tele-commuting, so perhaps working from home would be an option.

 

I don't think I want to work in a place – or for a boss – who are so paranoid about lost productivity (or mistrusting of professional staff) they would "spy" on me with social media.

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No more than me reading your posts is spying. It's a public act in public. Whether that space is by membership or not the post(s) you put out become public.

 

I have a friend who says you should never post anything online which you would not like to have read aloud in open court. Good advice.

 

As to tracking people's behaviour, this is an ancient problem. Bosses have always wanted to control employees, but they can't. Anyone who thinks they can; gets the worst employees, thereby fulfilling their suspicions employees cannot be trusted. Those who demonstrate trust will get it back in spades.

 

Observing other people is not spying. Getting into their private and personal business without their awareness or permission is spying.

 

Most of Eastern Europe (during the cold war) was aware of the possibility their conversations were monitored and their activities were being documented (even by neighbours) and reported to "someone". This produced a counter-culture in which some behaviours were deliberately adopted to ensure they "looked" normal.

 

Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase the "global village" to point out that it was not so much a mechanism for observation but, like a village of people, for being involved in everyone else's business. Everything which happens within a smaller population gets known by the whole population eventually. These little online tribes we join are there for us to get involved in everyone else's business. But it's not spying when you just put it out there. ?

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