The importance of Digital footprint check and personal social media use policy cannot be ignored
In a troubling incident yesterday, a Bengaluru-based man was fired after his message threatening to throw acid on a woman over her ‘choice of clothes’ went viral.
Nikith Shetty, a former employee of Etios Services, a digital media company, allegedly made the threat in response to a woman’s attire. The tweet, shared by the woman’s husband, Indian Express journalist Shahbaz Ansar, quickly caused public outrage, leading to swift action by Shetty’s employer.
The message, sent by Nikith, urged Shahbaz to ask his wife to dress “appropriately” in Karnataka, or face the threat of an acid attack. Alarmed by the violent nature of the threat, Shahbaz reported the incident to the authorities and put it on X, tagging Etios Services official handle. Just hours later, the company fired him to uphold its values.
People and their social media cannot be viewed separately in this digital era
This is the age of social media, where platforms like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook have become extensions of our daily lives. According to a report by Delhi-based NGO The Esya Centre and IIM Ahmedabad in 2023, Indians spend an average of 194 minutes daily on social media. This means nearly a fifth of their waking time is dedicated to these platforms, where they engage with content, share their opinions, and build their digital personas.
Social media is no longer just a tool for entertainment or communication — it has evolved into a reflection of one’s identity.
For businesses, the social media presence of their employees has become just as crucial as the company’s own online reputation. With the growing prominence of personal branding, an employee’s online actions can directly impact the image of their employer.
If an employee shares views or engages in activities on social media that are not aligned with the company’s values or mission, it can create serious complications. In extreme cases, it can tarnish the company’s brand and lead to financial or reputational damage, as happened in the case of Etios Digital Solutions.
It is not just employees but all associations — brand ambassadors, vendors, and business partners.
A prime example of this occurred in 2021 with the Indian ed-tech giant Byju’s and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), the brand ambassador. When SRK’s son became embroiled in a highly publicised drug scandal, Byju’s faced immense backlash. Social media erupted with criticism, and the company’s association with SRK suddenly became a liability. Byju’s was forced to halt its deal with SRK temporarily to mitigate the damage caused by the scandal.
The lesson here is clear: companies must be cautious about the associations they make, not just with high-profile figures like celebrities, but with their own employees.
The online behaviour of all such associations reflects back on the company. This makes vetting an individual’s social media presence just as important as more traditional background checks, such as criminal record screening or reference verification.
What may constitute as unacceptable social media behaviour?
- Hate speech against any demographic(s): Racial, gender, caste, regional, or age slurs are distasteful and almost always invite backlash. Last year in August, a PhysicsWallah (PW) teacher came under fire for using casteist slur in his online class. The video was circulated on social media platforms and the users directly pointed fingers at PW.
- Explicit sexual content: Engaging with content remotely related to sexual offences or activities is inappropriate.
- Allegiance or support to extreme political ideas: In 2023 October, Citigroup fired an employee for posting antisemitic content displaying support to the Holocaust.
- Damage to company property or brand: In 2015, a US-based Taco Bell worker posted a picture of himself urinating on an order of nachos, asking his followers to guess where he worked. Needless to say, he was fired. While this was an extreme case, employees have been fired for seemingly less. A mental health startup in India fired a woman for liking a LinkedIn post about toxic workplaces.
A good example is a PETA employee engaging with content around animal cruelty, which is against the core values of the company. - Showing support to competitor brand at the stake of company: Engaging with the competitors’ content is not wrong in its own, but in some cases, it might be. For example, an Amazon leader reposting Flipkart’s Big Billion Day Sale post during Amazon’s own Great Indian Festival is not the most welcome move.
- Revealing confidential company information: In the popular American sitcom Brooklyn 99, there is an episode on workplace chaos resulting from an employee posting his selfie with the branch’s (in this case, precinct’s) quarterly stats in the background.
With regard to confidential info, use of Open AI platforms like ChatGPT needs to be regulated as well. Samsung employees put confidential company code on ChatGPT in three different incidents last year. It means the data, which Samsung would have spent thousands of dollars on, is now ChatGPT’s to feed on. Post this incident, Samsung decided to develop its own AI application.
What to do?
- Check digital footprint while hiring — the ghost of a person’s social media past follows them: It is not just what they do while on the company’s roll. What they did before also matters. For instance, a person found to be engaging with discriminatory posts in the recent past may not fit well in the company’s culture.
And no, it is not a violation of the candidate’s privacy. Background checks are a standard practice in the hiring process already. In the digital age, background check cannot be complete without the digital footprint check. - Establish clear social media policies that outline acceptable online conduct: These guidelines should specify how employees can talk about the company, interact with sensitive topics, and represent themselves on public forums. A well-defined social media policy can serve as a preventive tool, protecting both the employee and the company from unintended consequences.
- Social media training program: However, policy creation alone isn’t enough. Companies also need to foster a culture where employees understand the importance of aligning their personal and professional identities online. Deloitte provides social media guidelines and training to its employees to ensure they are aware of how to represent the company positively while building their own personal brands.
Social Listening
Companies actively monitor social media channels for mentions of their brand or employees. This practice, known as social media listening, helps organisations track public perception and identify potential issues before they escalate.
Tools like Hootsuite, Brandwatch, and Sprout Social are popular for monitoring brand sentiment in real-time. While there is an ongoing debate about employee privacy versus company reputation, many organizations argue that monitoring public posts can safeguard the brand from reputational harm, especially in the era of cancel culture.
The speed with which online communities rally against perceived misconduct can have a devastating impact. Whether it’s an offensive post, a discriminatory comment, or even a misunderstanding, businesses are often left scrambling to contain the damage.
Conclusion
To conclude, in today’s hyper-connected digital world, companies and employees are closely intertwined through social media. Employees are not just representatives of the company in the workplace, but also in the virtual world.
Their online actions, whether intentional or not, can influence public perception of the company they work for. For businesses, this means that social media risk management must be taken seriously. From setting clear guidelines to actively monitoring brand reputation, companies must adopt a comprehensive strategy to navigate the complexities of the social media era.
As the line between personal and professional life continues to blur, companies that prioritise alignment between their employees’ online presence and the organisation’s values will emerge stronger, with fewer PR nightmares.
