Employee refuses to promote company's products on their personal social media platforms, despite having a big following, boss insists it's wasted potential: 'Get your followers to join'

Nowadays, many people have a regular 9-5 job while also maintaining an active social media presence. 

You don't have to be a full-time influencer to post on social media, and you can grow a small, yet significant, following without aiming for it to become your full-time job. Posting on different platforms has become a hobby just like any other, while some people put more effort into it than others. This is why it shouldn't really surprise anyone to find out that one of their young coworkers has tens of thousands of followers on Instagram or TikTok, which they invest in outside of work. This is just a form of self-expression that they get to enjoy outside of their regular full-time job.

The question is, how should they react to discovering a coworker is a small creator with enough followers to fill out an average arena in real life, and what do they do with that information?

The boss in the story below, for example, didn't react brilliantly when they discovered one of their employees had around 30k followers on both Instagram and TikTok. They weren't mad or jealous, quite the opposite, they wanted to use their following for the benefit of the company. During a marketing meeting, the boss informed this employee that they are expected to post videos on their personal social media to promote the company's products. The employee, on the other hand, was not a fan of the idea and told their boss that they prefer to keep their personal life separate from work. The company's products don't even align with the content they post on their personal platforms; posting about them could actually damage their image.

Safe to say, the boss did not like being refused, and the rest of the meeting was filled with disputes and discussions on what the employee should do. 

Should the employee "help" promote the company they work for on their personal platform, or did the boss cross a line by demanding it in the first place? Keep scrolling to read the full story and share your thoughts in the comments below.