Do nurses have a responsibility to keep their Facebook professional?

[Bortaz]

I am "Facebook friends" with a large number of my nursing peers. I am often quite surprised at the behavior I see exhibited by them in so public a place.

I see:

1. Lots and lots of foul language/inappropriate pics, etc.

2. Lots and lots of "oh, man, I'm so wasted right now...bout to go to the next bar!!!"

3. Lots and lots of TMI about relationships, affairs, drunkeness, fights, whatever.

On their FB profile, they have it proudly posted that they are "Registered Nurse at So-and-so Hospital", or "Proud PEDI Nurse!" or "School nurse at Ur Dum Akadimy".

I cringe sometimes when I see some of this stuff, and think to myself "what would their employer think?" or, "Hope they're not interviewing soon with a computer-adept manager".

I try to keep my social media as clean as I can, and don't flaunt any of my bad habits for the world to see.

But, what do you think? Do nurses have a responsibility to maintain a professional demeanor on their (supposedly) private social media sites?

Another possibility: Am I an old fart?

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

I believe that what I do in my personal, private time is none of my employer's business. My FB page is personal, it is not related to my employment, so therefore, my employer has no right to be snooping. I am also against drug testing as a condition of employment as a violation of our rights to privacy and unreasonable search and seizure. I have nothing to hide, as I only do legal drugs like alcohol and caffeine, but it's the principle of the matter to me.

Edited to add: My credit report is none of their business either (and I have excellent credit, again, it's the principle!)!!!

[doc8406]

No, they do not have a responsibility AS NURSES to keep it professional. HOWEVER, for ANY job, if they like being employed, it is highly advisable and keep two questions in mind in regards to behavior.

1. Does this embarrass my employer? If you talk crap about your boss, coworkers, or how your hospital, clinic, office does business, then don't be surprised when the rumor mill at work results in your termination. All those people you have friended from work will not keep their mouth shut offline.

2. Who is my audience? Do these people really care about what I'm saying? Why show photos of guzzling beers while you're half dressed for your work "friends" to see? There are distribution lists on FB that you can direct your posts to or exclude them from. I have a handful such as "work, liberal, hometown, besties, and music lovers" So I don't spam my posts to the wrong types of people or things they just don't care about.

Bottom line, people that say and do stupid stuff find themselves repeatedly wondering why they are constantly getting themselves in trouble or bad things happening to them. I generally keep any post clean as can be. Once it's on the internet...it's there forever whether you hit the delete button or not.

One more thing...Don't be a rat. Don't come to work and run your mouth about what you saw on someone elses internet page. Just shut your yap and get to work....work is not a social club.

My Two cents

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I see a lot of people signing into various discussion boards with a sign-on linked to their Facebook account. Just the other day, I was reading the comment section on a news story on the website of our local newspaper...there, for all the world to see, very public, were profane and ignorant and inappropriate comments by posters identified like so:

Joe Blow - RN at Blah Blah Medical Center.

Jane Wipe - Poncho Villa Elementary

Elsa Fap - CEO at BoogerCorp.

I just truly believe that people are not as secure in their online life as they believe themselves to be.

[Krither]

I keep things clean because I do not want people to get the wrong impression and that covers anything related to professionalism. I don't care to post where I work or what I do and therefore do not because it is none of anyone else's business. I'm a very private person to begin with so I tend to keep my business just that, mine.

[JZ_RN]

I keep my facebook private and don't post much of anything that could be considered inappropriate. I do express my opinions (political, etc) and I do post some things that perhaps are not totally acceptable by "work" standards (pictures from the beach or whatever) but I don't let anyone but those I am friends with access them. Simple as that. I don't think anyone smart is going around posting "I'm so drunk blah blah" anyways, otherwise they are immature and stupid to begin with.

I also only list my job as "RN" Not my workplace. I don't use my full name on fb. I don't post about work except maybe, time to go to work, afterwards, who wants to get dinner? or something like, man today at work was tough. That's about it. I don't post half nude pics or stuff about drinking, I don't have an issue with friends from work on fb except if they disagree with my personal life it might make work more difficult. Never encountered that so far though. My personal life is just that, MY PERSONAL LIFE. No one's business what I do in it as long as it's not illegal or involving them. I don't post things that I believe would be offensive. I do make my thoughts known regarding politics, but I am respectful of others differing opinions and never nasty to them to I would expect the same respect.

[LiLoRN]

Do nurses have a responsibility to keep their fb 'professional'? Does anyone? What people post on their fb pages is THEIR business. Whether or not they keep them public or private is again, their business. I'm so tired of people complaining about what other people post, whether it's what they had for breakfast or how drunk they are or how depressed they are. Some people actually do use fb as a form of a diary. I feel like a broken record when I say, if you don't like what a particular person posts, DELETE THEM or at the very least (if you don't want to hurt their feelings) hide their posts. And what a PP said about how someone 'in the know' can bypass security is kinda ridiculous. Yes, there are ways to get into someone's private fb account. But do you really think that a hospital would spend the time, money, and future liability for blatantly violating privacy to try to access someone's page just to see if they're complaining about the facility or getting drunk on their own time? Now, if the page is already public, that's a whole other story and if a person posts offensive things they are setting themselves up for trouble; but once again, that's their business.

[workingharder]

Also, has anyone noticed that there are more folks here at AN using their actual picture as their avatar?

I see this mostly with the younger nurses/students/CNAs, etc. and I think it's dangerous!

I sure wouldn't complain about school politics and horrible instructors with my picture tied to my post!

I think it may be a degree of blurred boundaries, insensitivity to exposure and a dash of vanity.

Dang! I thought I had myself pretty well disguised...

[Neriah]

The stuff on te internet is there forever.

There is no guarantee of safety, secrecy or being completely unknown.

Technology is moving so fast that we are all going to get left at the gate.

They found that Burger KIng where the guy thought they were annoymous posting about standing on the lettuce by tracing something embedded in the picture. They were BUSTED in an hour or less I think by hackers.

The reality is you put it out there, it can come back to get you.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Do you all wear your tin foil hats too when you post?

Yes I am friends with lots of people from work. Yes I have posted some things that might deem "unprofessional" Was I at work, no. Am I a representative 24/7 for where I work, no. While at work I am at work. I do my job well and I promote the qualities of the institution. The second I step out of there I am no longer a nurse and I am no longer working for them. I will not go bashing who I work for (cause I actually love my job) or say things directly about what happens at work, but other than that, what I post I really dont care about.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Also, has anyone noticed that there are more folks here at AN using their actual picture as their avatar?

I see this mostly with the younger nurses/students/CANs, etc. and I think it's dangerous!

I sure wouldn't complain about school politics and horrible instructors with my picture tied to my post!

I think it may be a degree of blurred boundaries, insensitivity to exposure and a dash of vanity.

So much for anonymity.... I have co-workers that are friends but they have been to my home and they are limited at best. My page in private but I am still very careful what I put out there....I've seen it bite too many folks. Even password protected sites I have seen one co-worker copy and paste an e-mail to an administrator about something that was said by another employee (about the administrator) and that employee got fired even though the administrator did not have a password to that site. The reporting employee is a snake but was it illegal? time will tell.

Keep your private business private.

[Mulan]

Yes, you're an old fart.

[Wild Irish LPN, LPN]

I make it a habit not to "friend" any of my co-workers in order to avoid any conflicts.....I identify myself as a Nurse, under my occupation title but nothing further....and I never address any events that go on at work, good or bad.....I am mindful of what I post and occassionally need a delete here or there because you just never know who is tuning in to your page.....Nurses in my opinion should be held to a higher standard, at work and away from it....in many ways we should be the model of professionalism and class, posting about "how wasted I was" is silly and undermines your profession....just a thought...