Spies in Speedos and pikey Primark

You’ve no doubt read about the new head of MI6, who started his tenure in spectacularly silly style when his wife failed to check her Facebook security settings and released a raft of personal details into the social sphere, including some fetching snaps of Sir John in his stripy Speedos. Now this morning Primark have announced that they’re launching an investigation into staff who have called their customers ‘pikey, ‘fat’ and ‘twats’ on Facebook.

Oh, it’s so, so easy to mock - and it’s doubtful exactly how enemies of the state could leverage the fact that Lady Sawyers is a fan of Cabaret - but the whole debacle does demonstrate that the impact of social media on our professional lives is becoming ever more complex. According to The Times, “Foreign Office staff are warned about using social networking sites when they join”, and the MI6 are super rigorous about what content can be released, but obviously this is not being communicated in the right way. And who knows what guidance Primark give their staff? Freedom of expression is the fuel of the net, and rather than just establishing dictatorial rules, companies need to engage their employees in face-to-face dialogue about where the boundaries lie.

Yes, we all need to activate a bit of common sense, and I have very limited sympathy for these fools. But it’s also the job of businesses to take the subject seriously and not just let their people become the fallguys for an inadequate policy.

Brought into the world on Monday, July 6th, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized.