I was fired for blogging

Michael Gartenberg | December 16, 2004, 08:23 AM

No, not me (I blog as part of my job :) ). This an article from Ellen Simonetti who was fired from Delta over her blog. Of course, it's a little more complicated than that and it's a story that being picked up in part because she's an attractive flight attendant who was posing in semi-provocative pictures (you can judge for yourself how salacious they actually are) on her weblog. It was the pictures in fact, that she posted of herself in uniform that seem to have been what got her in trouble, not her written words per se. One wonders if she had posted them on a plain old website that someone linked to if she would have been terminated and if so, would it be nearly as interesting to talk about how she was fired for posting pictures of herself in uniform as opposed to "blogging".

Nevertheless, one of my predictions for 2005 is that there will be more folks who get fired over things they say or post on their weblog (think before you post of the picture of yourself at the office party from your cameraphone). The nature of the medium means there are more folks who can easily find ways to make themselves look silly in front of more people than ever before.

But there's another side of this whole phenomena as well. Lots of folks will get hired as a result of their weblogs in 2005. It's not just about blog backlash but people who are using the power of the net and the amplification of their voices through their blogs to move their careers forward. The stories of those who get fired are a cautionary tale. The more interesting ones are those that achieve positive results as a result of their efforts and who keep their amusing pictures of themselves off the net :)

    Fired from her job at Delta Air Lines, former flight attendant Ellen Simonetti warns against the spread of "employer blog backlash." 
    [CNET News.com]