Similar to blogging teacher Natalie Munroe, a Chrysler contractor recently damaged his own career after oversharing on the Internet. Risking his online reputation and, more importantly, his job, Scott Bartosiewicz accidentally posted a Tweet on Chrysler’s official account instead of his personal one. The tweet read: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows to (expletive) drive.” Attributing the mistake to a glitch in the Twitter analytics program he was using, Bartosiewicz sent the tweet while he was stuck in traffic.

Unfortunately, that didn’t matter to Chrysler and they decided not to renew their contract with New Media Strategies, the Virginia-based marketing firm that Bartosiewicz worked for. Even worse, the canceled contract put 20 other people out of work as well. Chrysler spokesman Ed Garsten said in a statement that, “The company has invested greatly, not only financially, but philosophically…in supporting Detroit and the U.S. auto industry, and we simply couldn’t tolerate any messaging – whether or not there was an obscenity – that was denigrating to Detroit.” The tweet brought negative visibility to the brand, and in the video below, Bartosiewicz is apologetic of his actions and understanding of Chrysler’s decision.

The lesson here for kids is that whatever is posted online – whether it was posted to the wrong account, meant to be private, or just a poor choice of words in general – can have negative effects. Kids and adults alike need to think twice before they post, comment, or share anything online – because it can have lasting consequences.

Do your kids use Twitter? How do you monitor what the post on any social networking sites?