Associate Life Survey: Are You Online?
In today's ATL / Lateral Link survey, we explore the tangled web of social networking.
Back in May, Allen & Overy made news for attempting -- unsuccessfully -- to block the use of Facebook in the London office.
The firm claimed that it was just worried about staff downloading too many videos from the site, but is that really why employers are banning (or trying to ban) Facebook use?
Odds are, at least some attorneys at any large firm will post some potentially embarassing content online. ATL commenters unearthed the youtube videos of Divljan Shatterhand Steele just eight minutes after he was named a Summer Associate of the Day.
And other associates may use their peers' profiles in unwelcome ways, like the guys at Skadden Insider who trolled myspace and facebook for pictures of their female colleagues for an online beauty contest -- without the women's permission.
And, of course, you never know what kind of dangers you might expose yourself to in cyberspace. Even David Lat once poked an alleged kidnapper on facebook, and received a painful spanking for his efforts.
So, how are you surfing the social web, and are you sharing it with your firms?
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Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this Associate Life Survey.
(11) Comments
1st
Simpson firing associates?????
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=134149&d=415&h=417&f=416
2 has some news. Adding a mid-year review when there wasn't one is just cover for a layoff.
I'm sure the firm is using it to spin the layoffs as being performance based, but the reality is that Simpson is firing people and should own up.
Get on it Lat!
Again with the cats. Stop it already...
ATL to TTT
my firm blocks myspace and facebook. linkedin is the only one they seem to allow, although it's hit or miss whether they let profile photos through. AOL IM and gmail chat are OK but many blogs (including blawgs, but thankfully not ATL) are blocked. i can usually still pull up a myspace page using google cache though, but i can't log in. time to get an iphone. sigh.
my prior firm used to block almost all internet use during 'work hours' although some sites were permanently blocked. They claimed it was due to viruses coming through, but in reality they just didn't want employees to 'goof off' when they should be working (oh no, am I 'goofing off' right now?). Fortunately at my new firm, everything is available, so I can spend all day at ATL among others.
Love the lolcat.
That is the cutest quote I have ever imagined a cat saying. LMAO!!!
kill the cat
kill the cat