When is an employee post on Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media outlet grounds for termination?

My inclination is to agree with Kirk. I think you should have a policy that defines your practice and policy and then you need to look at each situation.
For me personally there are things that cause me to "free up your future" rather quickly, they include-
- you disseminate confidential information about other employees, customers, etc.
- You display on your site behavior that is illegal or demonstrative of such poor judgement it negatively effects the employer especially if you are in a "high profile" role or identifiable as our employee (you are in logo wear) etc.
- You make assertions about the company, customers, a coworker, a manager etc that are defamatory or infer criminal or other behavior that doesn't qualify as "whistle blowing" or other protected speech and/or are unproven allegations and potentially damaging to the "victims" career. I personally include "hate" speech when you specifically identify your employer or another employee.

Howie,
My organization has developed and disseminated a policy under the HR arena that addresses what's acceptable behavior with respect to Social Media and what is not. Failure to comply usually leads to a progressive counselling/coaching process.

As others have mentioned, a social media policy is the best way to govern these situations. It is a critical document that most companies have not yet come up to speed with. It clearly lays the groundwork so employees understand consequences before they engage in the behavior.

The website Social Media Governance actually keeps a database of corporate social media policies: http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php This is a great resource to see what guidelines major corporations are using. They currently have 164 policies in their database.

I think Mark's answer gives the best policy in a nutshell: 1) divulging company secrets, 2) behavior that lacks judgment or 3) hateful remarks about people or the company.

I tell all people who will listen to "pay attention to what you write online". Even if you feel like you're behind a secure login, things change (i.e. Facebook's ever changing privacy settings), and what you write could be released for public viewing. The perfect example of this was of a school teacher who was recently suspended because of negative comments she made about her students on a blog she *thought* was private: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/16/teacher-natalie-munroe-defends-blog-comm... Even without a social media policy, it's good to remind employees of this so they could be aware that private activities online could be made public.

Great question!

In the UK it would normally be possible to take disciplinary action if the social media comment is defamatory or unlawful or otherwise undermines the duty of trust and confidence between the parties or brings the employer into disrepute. Of course it would help if there was a clear policy on the matter and a fair disciplinary procedure would need to be followed.

I imagine that in some cases there would also be a case for seeking civil damages too.

With so many companies lagging behind the times in writing their social media policies and establishing internal communication controls, it comes down to a case-by-case basis.

We are hearing more and more about unsavory social media practices and employees being fired for making incendiary remarks about the company, its products and other individuals. This is playing out on Facebook and Twitter primarily, sites where people actually believe they are venting in a closed community.

The punishment should fit the crime. If the content is benign and confined to hearsay, it might involve a slap on the wrist (and you can bet that big brother will really be watching now!). If it's an all-out rant that embarrasses the firm and deflates the brand, oh yeah, you terminate.

There is a lot of emotion playing out on the digital stage. The laws of business etiquette in the real world apply. I like Mark's use of the term, "poor judgment." We have choices when we sit down at the computer and, in deference to First Amendment rights, should always be in edit mode.

These days, it behooves one to deliberate carefully before hitting "Share."