Social media and work: an emerging privacy

Soon after social media (SM) emerged, it became an issue in unfair dismissal cases, with industrial tribunals having to consider the nature and implications of employees' online posts. Employee comments posted when they were off-duty, on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, posed interesting questions. Scholars wrote of the blurring of the distinction between employees' public and private lives, as employers argued that privately aired opinions had a sufficient connection with employment to constitute or otherwise serve as evidence of misconduct warranting dismissal.