In a week when NSW Premier Nathan Rees was colourfully described as "tweeting with the energy of a 12-year-old with Tourettes", we've had our own graphic experience of web 2.0.
Google infamously puts "You can make money without doing evil" at #6 on its list of "Ten Things We Know To Be True" that describe its philosophy. Nowadays, that statement is being questioned more and more as Google evolves, and I, for one, very much hope that they stick to the script. But it's odd – although perhaps not surprising given the nature of competition (think Darwin's "survival of the fittest") – that so many of mankind's inventions end up being turned against ourselves.
And so to this week's shenanigans...
When ex-employees turn bad and inject their Twitter updates with malice, lies and innuendo (allegedly) – or at the very least, a large dose of naiveté.
Attacks on one's reputation are never much fun, whether launched at an individual or an organisation. And they are even harder to bear when they have no basis in fact and simply satisfy the author's personal vendetta. And the final straw is often the convenient lapse of memory they suffer when they reminisce on their time as employees: the fact that leaving was agency was not their choice.
That said, in spite of their tirade, they are happy enough to include their time at they agency on their résumé – presumably, in the hope that the collective and well-earned reputations of thousands of agency employees around the world will help bolster their own by dint of association.
You can't have it both ways. You can't assume the accolades of association on the one hand, but then go and bite the hand that feeds you on the other.
As time goes by and the world becomes more connected and transparent, all of us will have to make an increasing number of choices about where we stand. I certainly don't have the answers when it comes to what those choices might mean, but I do have one piece of advice. Be honest.
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