Think twice before you use Twitter to vent or blab about work: that indiscreet tweet could cost you your job.

There have been a number of incidents this year involving people using the popular microblogging site in ways that have gotten them fired. Some classic examples are covered in ResumeBear's "Top 30 Ways to Lose a Job on Twitter." The list is long, but includes such bone-headed moves as tweeting about sleeping with the boss's daughter, failing a drug test, or lying to the boss.

This reminds me of the high-profile case of @theconnor, who infamously tweeted in March: "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work." Sure enough, a Cisco employee soon posted: "Who is the hiring manager? I'm sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web." While the candidate quickly made their account private, it was already too late -- it had gone viral. Not only did this individual lose the offer, but they were widely ridiculed online.

The takeaway? Your material IS indexed in searches, and people are naturally curious. Mention of a company name will likely be discovered by people working at that company.

The most recent case of Twitter-induced firing is that of a Los Angeles waiter, Jon Barrett-Ingels. According to gossip blog Defamer, he was dismissed from his job after tweeting that Hung actress Jane Adams didn't tip on her bill. (Allegedly, Barrett-Ingels had previously tweeted indiscreetly that Heroes star Ali Larter was out and about without a bra on, and described The Office castmember B.J. Novak as looking "hungover.")

The takeaway? This person seems to have been using his proximity to fame in a gossipy and non-professional manner. While we don't know the legalities of his particular case, it's good to remember that whether you are dealing with a celebrity, a corporate entity, or a regular customer, your employer has the right to expect you to behave responsibly in connection with your duties. Even if you have not signed confidentiality materials (and many do), it is certainly not part of any customer service tradition to publish embarrassing information about customers.

Numbers back up these anecdotes. A Proofpoint survey from August 10, 2009, says that the state of the economy is leading to increased risk of data loss events. Employees "oversharing" through social media is a big part of the problem, they say:

Concerning social networks, US companies are also experiencing more exposure incidents involving sites like Facebook and LinkedIn as compared to 2008 (17 percent versus 12 percent). US companies are taking a much more forceful approach with offending employees -- eight percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation as compared to only four percent in 2008... Even short message services like SMS texts and Twitter pose a risk. 13 percent of US companies investigated an exposure event involving mobile or Web-based short message services in the past 12 months.

Both employees and employers have a ways to go in coming up with good strategies to deal with this new form of communication. Employees should use caution and good sense in deciding what to share on Twitter, while HR (and possibly Legal or Risk Management) needs to educate employees about the risks the organization faces on Twitter due to liability and loss of reputation.

Have you ever written up or fired someone for something they admitted to on Twitter? Would you look at their Twitter feed if you received a complaint about it? Do you have a policy in place that covers employees' tweets?

Article by, Sarah and courtesy of RiseSmart.com - RiseSmart: Search Smarter. Rise Faster.