Tweets can get you fired

There are numerous examples of teens and adults who have learned the hard way when it comes to tweeting, emailing and texting questionable messages. In October, 2012, a sports talk-show host in Columbus, Ohio sent out a tweet that he probably regrets. He was critical of a former Heisman trophy winner and current ESPN announcer, Desmond Howard. Scott Torgerson tweeted as follows:

“I wish Desmond Howard would get fired or die so I can watch Gameday again.” Togerson has since deleted the message but not before a couple others in the Twitterverse took notice and retweeted his post. Shortly after his tweet went public, he was fired from his job. That’s the lesson here – don’t threaten anyone and think it will remain anonymous or private or viewed by others as simply a joke. Everything online is public information and can be saved by others, sent on or kept in a separate file for use anytime in the future.

Additional examples we’ve written about include the story of Amanda Todd or the positive  story about football player, Kevin Curwick of Minnesota.

In December, 2013, Justine Sacco was on a flight to Africa as the communications director of an international conglomerate. She tweeted an offnsive comment about AIDS and Africa. It caused a stir on the internet that led to her parting ways with the company shortly after she landed. Sacco tweeted: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white.”