Facebook – is it working?

I see that Apple has (allegedly) fired an employee for making comments about the company on Facebook. An employment tribunal rejected the employee’s claim for unfair dismissal.
I think this raises some wider issues, in particular the use of social networking sites at the office (or where ever you work). Most employers block Facebook access using the business network – it’s their network and their machines after all. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
But – and you knew there would be a ‘but’ – even ‘private’ comments, made out of work hours could lead you into trouble. And this is where the grey area really begins. What is a ‘private’ comment? What happens if such a comment is soon copied and pasted elsewhere? How much control should an employer have over an employee?
Interestingly, statistics show that over 60% of college students will ask about social networking policies during a job interview. Seems like young people have really been ‘infected’ by Facebook and they can’t bear to be away from it for any length of time. Don’t they realise they are at work to…well, work? It would appear that many young people cannot tell the difference between ‘personal’ and ‘work’ when it comes to Facebook.
Please tell me, as a non-Facebook person, that everyone out there is not addicted to social networking? Am I the only one that’s immune?
Readers should note that in the USA employees cannot be disciplined for content posted on Facebook. However, UK law is less clear.
Feel free to post your reply to this blog on my Facebo…never mind.