http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/pr-executive-justine-sacco-apologises-after-losing-job-over-racist-aids-joke-provoked-hasjustinelandedyet-twitter-storm-9020809.html

http://abcnews.go.com/International/woman-fired-tweet-aids-africa-sparks-internet-outrage/story?id=21298519

Keep Your Tweets, Lose Your Job.

Annnnd, we're back! So, what did we learn from last week? 

We learned that in the fight  for the ultimate protection between your First Amendment freedom of speech and the safety of The President of the United States of America: POTUS wins, flawless victory.

There's a possibility we can face actual legal repercussions for a tweet?! Yes, we can.

So, it seems that as long as an individual isn't using Twitter to mastermind tweet-plots (I avoided mashing the two words together to keep it PG-13) to take out leaders of the world then they should be in the clear, right?

Wrong.

Justine Sacco was a Public Relations Director of InterActive Corp, who owns companies such as Match.com and Dictionary. com. On December, 20, 2013, Sacco prepared to board a flight to the Motherland, but not before tweeting some words of wisdom, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding, I'm white!" Sacco only had about 200 hundred Twitter followers but per usual, the Private Investigators of the Twitterverse managed to spread the tweet around so rapidly that #HasJustineLandedYet became an international trending topic. Sacco gained twinfamy in the time it took from the London to South Africa flight. The Tweeps joined forces and made sure to let everyone know what kind of person Sacco truly was, everyone, including her bosses.

If you are willing to be brave enough to tweet such a statement it would make sense to purchase in-flight wireless to check out the responses, because no good tweet goes unpunished. Sacco's nonsense spread like wildfire across the globe to the point where there was actually a Twitter user (@Zac_R) in the airport in South Africa awaiting Sacco's arrival to see if it was really her that made the tweet and catch her reaction once she caught wind of her twitter explosion. 

Turns out, Sacco had not been hacked and she in fact made the tweet. Sacco immediately deleted the tweet, along with her Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram account. Sacco soon issued an apology, stating the tweet was a joke. Well, Sacco's employer, InterActive Corp, must have thought the tweet was so funny that they had to give her the boot because they obviously did not want to hold her back from a prosperous career as a comedian; yea, that's exactly what it was. 

It did not take too long for InterActive Corp to release this statement, "There is no excuse for the hateful comments that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally" and that they "parted ways with the employee in question." People love to throw out there, "It's my account, I can tweet, post, and say what I want!" But people should also realize that yes, as an individual, you do have the freedom of speech. But, once you associate yourself with a company, organization, or corporation, you no longer speak for yourself, but you speak for them as well. If the thoughts and beliefs of one single person managed to become reflective of an entire corporation or if it seemed the corporation condoned such words or acts, the liability and backlash could be endless.

So, what have we learned today? Yes, your speech is free. But when it comes to your employer and livelihood, be mindful that a simple tweet could mean you writing a check that ya a$$ can't cash, because, unemployment.