Fired Because of His Facebook

Dan Leone used to work for the Philadelphia Eagles. He loved the franchise and was very upset when Brian Dawkins became a Bronco, just as many other fans were. I'm sure that fans vented their displeasure in a variety of ways, like in bars, on blogs, to their girlfriends and wives, etc. Leone did things a little differently, and vented through his status on his Facebook page. Leone used some expletives, but then realized that it was wrong to post something like that, and took that status down. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.

Two days after the post on Facebook, Leone was fired over the phone, ending his six year career with the team. The Guest-Services manager for the Eagles didn't want to hear his apologies, and said that he couldn't be trusted because of what he had done.

With Facebook still being a relatively new medium, with little to no rules, was it fair for Dan Leone to get fired for what his status said? Should companies explicitly say that anything you say that is offensive to the company, not matter what medium it's said in, will result in termination? How can companies, agencies and organizations work with the social media phenomenon?

Information taken from Philly.com. Fine the article here.