Philipp Lenssen of Google Blogoscoped is reporting that Google blogger Mark Jen is no longer working at Google.
Philipp received the information from an anonymous poster in his forum who said this…
“A concerned Google employee —
I regret to inform you that Mark Jen was fired from Google on Friday, January 28th. I don’t have any details, but I can tell you that he was quietly let go. An e-mail was sent out to the entire company, letting us know that the matter many had written to management expressing their concerns about, had now been taken care of.
I initially thought that this meant that Mark had been told to be more careful about discussing company financials, but it soon became apparent that Mark had left the company. I can only assume that his silence since that date means that they either threatened him or cut him a sweet severance deal. Whatever happened, it’s a sad day when you can’t speak openly about both the good and bad at your chosen place of work without getting silenced.”
Philipp goes on to make this point:
“If Mark was fired, would it be a wrong move by Google? I would say this depends on the details, most importantly, Mark’s contract. If he signed a non-disclosure agreement of any sort, then he shouldn’t have openly spoken about work details. Other Google bloggers seem to handle their work space a little more confidently and do get along fine with their bosses.”
Danny Sullivan has a good timeline of Mark’s short tenure at Google here.
There is no comment yet at Mark Jen’s blog.
It comes down to whether a company can and/or should control what an employee discloses or writes about them. In my opinion Google must protect its interest as it deems necessary … and sometimes that may mean firing an employee blogger.
murdok is the CEO of murdok which publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters.
Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog which focuses on internet business and marketing trends.
