Should a former employee be forced to relinquish his personal Twitter account when he leaves his employer, if he used that account for work purposes? Generally, I would say no, but this HuffPo article makes an important point:

The paper says Bitter signed a company handbook acknowledging social media accounts "are the property of BH Media."

If this is true, this should be an open-and-shut case.

It also seems like the Roanoke Times should have had procedures in place to gain control of an account when an employee leaves. That is not difficult to do. This is as much a story about lack of forethought as a conflict between an employer and a former employee.