I was taking a pic of the pool on holiday and got into a conversation with another holidaymaker. We were talking about our use of mobile devices and how we use them to consume and create content.
They told me a story about someone they worked with who, on returning to work, was asked to remove a picture of themselves from Instagram. It showed the colleague next to a holiday pool wearing a swimming costume.
The employers reason? Some of their stakeholders might see it and it could compromise the organisation as a result. The employer was a public sector organisation in the UK.
Are these rules reasonable? Is someone being over-officious? All comments welcome.
Lost and Desperate 
I think there are valid reasons for a more zealous approach from employers regarding their employees social footprint. One clear example is for school teachers, due to the potential ramifications of pupils gaining access to their teachers social media accounts.
However I feel there is a need for a reasonable balance to be struck between the needs of business reputation, and the social freedom of its employees. Reasonable is the key word here, along with compromise.
In relation to your example, it is hard to pass comment as to whether the employers request is totally unreasonable without the business context. However, one could say that posting holiday snap showing an employee having fun would not be an unreasonable action for them to take, unless if was depicting unlawful activity.
This is likely to be a cyclical debate as people’s social footprints cross paths with employer social footprints.
LikeLike