Did I Really Say That?

Perhaps you heard about the job applicant who, after receiving an offer from Cisco Systems, sent a twitter message (tweet)

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.

With an appropriate level of shock, others have commented on the apparent lack of couth exhibited by this supposedly tech-savvy individual. Why would any rational person do such a thing?

These days, there is a disconnect between our personal sense of space and expectations of privacy with the communication capabilities that emerging technologies provide. The lines between public and private communication have blurred because:

1. New communication tools can be used for either;
2. New tools are often designed for one purpose, but used for others; and
3. Producers of new communication tools attempt to lay claim to information about individuals who use their service, their messages, photos and other content.

When using public social media tools to maintain relationships, organizations must try to assess not only the functionality of the tools they use, but also the audiences that they might unintentionally be reaching.