Now I look at my old company and wonder why they weren’t on top of things enough to realize what they missed. It’s not like I was hiding my passion. I used it to be a better employee, up until the day I left. Why didn’t they find a place for me?

You hit the nail on the head. A social media person interfacing with the community is a very, very powerful figure. The only way they can be effective is if they are invested with the power to make changes and be heard. That’s a lot of trust in a single person who may or may not be right about what amounts to a small but vocal percentage of your customers.

Done right, social media acts as a trojan horse, supercharging a company’s employees and building conversations with the customer base. Done wrong, you’re building up the personal brand of a mercenary and paying them to get famous, only to have the walk and have other people wonder why you let them leave.

Advice to any company, realize your ex-employees are not competitors but potential collaborators, who better to be a customer evangelist.