Every Thursday, we bring you the latest stories to affect Gen Y, particularly in the workplace. This week, we’re taking a break to join the rest of the Internet in discussing a particular member of Gen Y – Miley Cyrus – and what you can learn from her now infamous performance at Sunday’s VMAs.

The performance has spurred many conversations, memes, and GIFs this past week over her dancing, err… excuse me, whatever that was. Chances are you were either offended or put off by the performance – (unless you happened to like it and got a shout out on Miley’s Twitter). No matter your love or hate, the Internet’s reaction to Miley’s show is a great example of Gen Y’s appetite for a social media voice. But, we can also take away a few lessons for the workplace.

Within seconds of the performance beginning, tweets, Facebook posts and pictures popped up on the web. The Internet has initiated a cultural rise to individualized voices, opinions and personalities that can aid or harm the path a person or company can take. One can perceive Miley Cyrus’ performance as either a win or a fail depending on how they decide to look at it. On the one hand, she received more tweets per hour than the blackout at the Super Bowl…#fact, for her performance. On the other hand, it was a lot of the wrong kind of attention (more on that later). Don’t try to be something you aren’t because as Miley showed us, doing that can end in embarrassment online. Either way, you can use social media platforms to change the way you want to be perceived.

Speaking of perception, there’s an even bigger (and more obvious) lesson here. For one, don’t stick your tongue out in public. Ever. But in all seriousness, it serves as a good reminder to be careful about how your present yourself, in and outside of the workplace, and to be careful what you post on social media. Not all news is good news, even when you’re a pop star. Although you may be a #trending topic, you could be receiving the attention for all the wrong reasons – sorry, Miley.