Just when you thought the fad of forwarding silly or inappropriate joke e-mails to colleagues had run its course, along comes YouTube.

Now don’t get me wrong:  I think YouTube is the greatest entertainment invention since Nintendo.  My favorite YouTube video is the Montgomery Flea Market commercial, which I must have watched 100 times.  But there’s a time and a place, and unless you’re working for a communications firm and it’s your job to keep on top of things like popular videos, please refrain from sending tasteless clips to colleagues, or god forbid, your superiors.

Just the other day, my friend told me about a guy who works for her, who apparently e-mailed the whole group a video of turtles having sex, set to the typical music of a porn video.  What possessed the guy to think that this was remotely a good idea?  If he simply couldn’t keep his YouTube find to himself, didn’t he have ex-fraternity brothers he could share it with? 

Just like your Facebook and MySpace pages, e-mailed video content makes a statement about you as a credible professional.  Don’t blow it because you think the office deserves a good chuckle.