Fox Sports reporter Emily Austen made the news…yes, she was the news this week when she FUBARed her career on FacebookLive. (If it helps, fast forward to 25:33)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMvCIgX_kMs

Wait, did Emily just say “Like, I didn’t even know Mexicians were that smart.”

WTF!?!?!?!?

SMDH

Fox Network immediately fired her because of her comments on FacebookLive. Let that sink in for a moment. Fox Network fired her for all the inappropriate comments in this unaffiliated FacebookLive broadcast.

Yeppers-you can get fired for stuff you do on social media.

To be fair to her, Austen did post a statement about it here.

But, to add more fuel to this fire, here’s a story about it from Complex News.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrT46AL4cSU

Again, I repeat:

• You can lose your job over a picture.
• You can lose your job over a 140-characters (tweet).
• And yes, you can lose your main job on a couch during a live broadcast.

All thanks to social media.

For more case studies on others who lost their jobs because of social media, check out this link.

In this case, what would have helped?

1. Not saying dumb things.
2. A behind the scenes PIO to help coordinate conversation.
3. Sticking to the “script” of the interview/session.
4. Professionally maintaining topic relevance and choice of words.
5. Sticking to communications strategy and abiding by identified corporate Policy/Procedures and SOPs/SOGs.

Or just straight up – don’t say inappropriate things.

Now phleeeze – go out there and use your social media live broadcasting powers for good!

@rusnivek