11/13/2007

Busted Big Time: Facebook's Late Adopters Turn the Tables

Be real: no matter how sure you are that you’re getting away with murder (metaphorically speaking, that is), there’s really no need to post pictures of it up on Facebook. Especially if you don’t want certain people eyeing your misadventures. It’s the social networking equivalent of filming a private sex video and then being surprised it popped up online somewhere.

Sears, all the latest controversy bubbling up in the blog circuit over the evident lack of privacy on Facebook has totally missed the boat. If you don’t want someone checking out your every personal detail, don’t make a point of posting it on Facebook. Or My Space. Or anywhere else on the Net, for that matter.

Because no matter which way you slice it, it will end up being your fault, and you'll be kicking yourself to the grave. Take note: if you upload something you don’t want others to see, it will come back and bite you in the you-know-what, guaranteed.

The reason for this rant is that I am all sorts of embarrassed for one Kevin Colvin, bank intern by day, wand-toting party fairy by night. It turns out this Facebook “early adopter” (ha!) didn’t go to work for a couple of days, claiming he had a pressing family issue. Ok dude, do what you have to do, hope everything works out.

But then... oops! A coworker jacked some pictures this guy posted on Facebook during the days he was away from work that clearly show him NOT attending to a family situation. His boss got a hold of one of these not-so-flattering photographs (with the dude partying it up in a fairy costume), and responded by attaching the photo to an email reply and bcc’ing the entire company. Uh-huh, that's right.

Harsh. And a tad extreme. Anyway, online ridicule ensued, as the e-mail thread landed in the inboxes of friends and colleagues throughout the land. And of course, blogs are eating this one up. Go ahead and check out the cringe-worthy e-mail exchange here. I'm still reeling.

So my whole point is, if you are going pull one over The Man, at least make sure to cover your tracks. Geez. I’m sure all of us have done something similar at one point or another in our careers. But we have the decency and brains to be smart about it. Right?

I’d actually be laughing at this if it wasn’t so painfully embarrassing. I mean, check out the picture! Some one put him out of his misery please, for my sake.

As one commenter noted on Valleywag (the blog that broke the story): “Okay, that’s one way of letting the entire office know you’re gay…” LOL. And all of online for that matter. I wonder if this kid has what it takes to become the next Chris Crocker. Thoughts?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

H mm Big brother web 2.0. I don't want to get all paranoid, but thats exactly whats is happening. I was reading one of this days that this generation( in some countries) is one of the most documented ever ( photos, videos, audio...not sure that last one is all popular still.But it stills make a point on what content should be public or not. And if there are ways of making your content public on line and keeping other content private. Or the other way could be to simply disconnect yourself from on line content sharing. Is that even possible today without ostracizing yourself from new social networks arising from the INTERNET capabilities. Well it will most certainly make things difficult to use convergence telecommunication devices. No more 3G and 4G phones for you!

Anonymous said...

although this is very funny, the co-worker that ratted him out to his boss is a dick. hes an intern! if he wants to call in "sick" who cares? its not like he gets paid. sorry you had to get your own starbucks, chuck!

whats more, his boss is a dick. why cc the entire office? it seems to me the boss needs to brush up on his conflict resolution skills. certainly, this now constitutes harassment. besides, the dick boss missed out on the joy of watching the magical intern squirm in person. damn the digital age!

lastly, theres nothing on the photo that indicates a date and time. i would’ve said it was an old photo i only recently posted.

poor tinkerbell cant catch a break (or a day off!).

jpastor said...

who penned that comment, is that you kevin?

Anyway, I agree. the boss IS a dick. which lends further credence to my point. dude should've been more careful, you never know kind of people are looking at your facebooks.

BTW, the boss didn't cc everyone, he bcc'ed them.

alf said...

actually I have been waiting for you to post something embarrassing here that I can mail to everyone...