Bosses, Employees, and Social Networking Sites

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

So this morning Facebook "suggested" that I add my boss and the only person I ever had to fire as friends. Either FB has a great sense of humor or it's hitting the crack pipe awfully hard this morning. But it also got me thinking.

I'm pretty sure all of my worker monkeys are on Facebook. They've mentioned it at least in passing. I wouldn't consider any of them to really be friends of mine but there have been times where I've wondered if they've been ill when they've called in sick or if I would find pictures of them shitfaced in New Orleans during that time on the FB pages. I go back and forth on whether that kind of oversight ability would be useful or just Big Brotherish.

And while I'd have to censor myself if I added my boss it wouldn't hurt if I could develop a friendlier working relationship with it.

Then I decided since it's Monday and there isn't shit to do I'd ask Spurstalk. How many of you out there have any employees, co-workers, or bosses as friends or whatever on Facebook, MySpace, etc? Has it been a positive or a negative? Any good stories to come of it?

[tlongII]

I have lots of co-workers on FB. It's a good thing imo.

[jcrod]

I stay clear, unless their friends outside of work.

[J.T.]

Just block people you don't want seeing your FB in the privacy settings. I have my mom and most people who know her and are also friends with me and have FBs blocked.

[Shaolin-Style]

I've never had any problems adding co-workers/classmates. The suggestions stuff is pretty cool cause it's given me people I didn't really get to know too well in my classes/work and just seems like it creates an opportunity to get to know them more comfortably online rather than on campus or in the office where theres lots of anxiety.

As long as you're just a straightforward honest person who isn't in your face about religion and politics I don't see how you could offend your co-workers or any rational person even if you swear a lot. I'd block the person you fired though.

[Fpoonsie]

Never had any problems w/ bosses as of yet, however THIS (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135542) was a pain in the ass.

[ploto]

I have only one friend from work on FB and that is only because we went to school together. I have not added anyone else because I like to keep work and private separate. I do not use FB for professional purposes, though, but I know some people do. I would think adding co-workers would be different than adding your boss.

[PakiDan]

My ex-boss trolled this site and fired me cause of a posting I made here... I'm sure many of you remember...

[The Gemini Method]

I keep my private life and work life seperate. I don't feel the need to have my boss or co-worker on FB and to a lesser extent, MySpace. It's not for a lack of camaraderie, because I get along well with my boss and my co-worker. It's just some things are best left unmixed.

[Blake]

....but there have been times where I've wondered if they've been ill when they've called in sick or if I would find pictures of them shitfaced in New Orleans during that time on the FB pages.....

Then I decided since it's Monday and there isn't shit to do I'd ask Spurstalk.

thats funny right there

[td4mvp21]

I have a co-worker, a former co-worker, and my boss on Facebook. To say the least, I post what I feel, think, do, etc. without hesitation, and I haven't had any problems with it. In fact, my boss often comments on my stuff and brings it up at work and laughs about it.

[z0sa]

Anything you say can and will be used against you

[Jekka]

Two of my coworkers are friends on my Facebook, but since it's a library we have our own Facebook page for the college and are sort of expected to participate in that stuff for library networking.

[angel_luv]

I have added co-workers who I consider to be friends, even if we only socialize at work.

I do not think I would add any of my bosses though since we are not equals given that I report to them and they supervise me.

I would like to think that my boss' could separate the me who jokes around on my facebook page from the professional me who I always am at work. But I am not willing to run that risk.

For that reason, I would not add anyone who was currently my boss or anyone I hoped to work for in the future.

That said, I think my bosses thinking would all be similar to mine- that being Facebook friends could potentially cause awkwardness between a boss and his employee- and so would be surprised to ever get a friend's request from any of them.

[JudynTX]

I keep my private life and work life seperate. I don't feel the need to have my boss or co-worker on FB and to a lesser extent, MySpace. It's not for a lack of camaraderie, because I get along well with my boss and my co-worker. It's just some things are best left unmixed.

That's pretty much how I feel. I do have one co-worker on my FB page, but we're best friends. :)

[Shelly]

Soooo--is 'Chatty' one of your friends?? :P

[Spurminator]

I have about 20 coworkers as friends but I keep my updates pretty tame. I also have certain people blocked from seeing tagged photos of me because you never know what kinds of photos of you someone else is going to upload.

We had a situation about a year and a half ago where we had a mass layoff in a day, and people were brought in for one-on-one meetings to find out if they still had a job. This being a fairly young company, a lot of us are friends on Facebook and there were a lot of rumors/updates flying around all day. It was nice to be in the loop while all of this was happening but our upper-level execs weren't exactly thrilled about it when they got wind of it.

[exstatic]

Facebook is for friends, LinkedIn is for professional contacts. I don't mix them. I actually pre-emptively blocked someone from work who had hinted about wanting to look me up on FB, and it's someone I like and chat with a lot. If anyone REALLY pressed the point, I might friend them, wait maybe 30 days, and then unfriend them.

You people who do it, well, I admire your bravery, but you're going to feel awful stupid if anything does happen to you. To each, his or her own. Just check out Paki's internet firing thread.

[Whisky Dog]

Depends on your type of work. Counselor at a women's shelter? Probably ok. CIA agent? Hell no. Cashier at Target? Go ahead. Teacher adding her students? Hell no.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Soooo--is 'Chatty' one of your friends?? :P

I just about spit coffee all over my monitor when I saw that name on the right side of the screen.

I have to admit there's some morbid curiosity on my mind to see what sort of shit she posts about. "Got an F for trying to explain to my genetics professor the positive aspects of keeping the white race as pure as possible. I guess some people still aren't ready to hear the truth."

[Jekka]

Facebook is for friends, LinkedIn is for professional contacts. I don't mix them. I actually pre-emptively blocked someone from work who had hinted about wanting to look me up on FB, and it's someone I like and chat with a lot. If anyone REALLY pressed the point, I might friend them, wait maybe 30 days, and then unfriend them.

You people who do it, well, I admire your bravery, but you're going to feel awful stupid if anything does happen to you. To each, his or her own. Just check out Paki's internet firing thread.

I don't usually post anything on Facebook that I wouldn't post on LinkedIn, especially since a lot of my former supervisors have friended me. I have, however, deleted several comments that other people have made on my FB page and explained to them that I keep that page clean for a reason.

[angel_luv]

To each, his or her own. Just check out Paki's internet firing thread.

I am searching for it but do not see it.

Link?

[easjer]

Separate.

I like my coworkers, and you know that they know a fair amount about our lives and vice versa, but if I want to go on a rant or vent, I do so where they can't possibly see it. I don't reference work much on my blog because I know it can be found and linked to me (the references I do have are largely related to talking about how busy I am. In the past, I've talked about more stuff, but I've learned to be more careful since then).

[CuckingFunt]

And while I'd have to censor myself if I added my boss it wouldn't hurt if I could develop a friendlier working relationship with it.

I'd advise not casually referring to your boss as "it" if you go through with the add.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I'd advise not casually referring to your boss as "it" if you go through with the add.

Probably a good idea, but I have no idea what else to call it. My boss is one of those minority types, and not one of the good ones either.

[robino2001]

Depends on your type of work. Counselor at a women's shelter? Probably ok. CIA agent? Hell no. Cashier at Target? Go ahead. Teacher adding her students? Hell no.

I have a family acquaintance that I've played COD with online once... I was invited to his XBL party and was confused by all of the people in the group with him. He's a 24 year old HS teacher/baseball coach and, I eventually figured out, was playing COD with all of his students. A) it was horribly annoying with tons of high school kids but more importantly... B) it was kinda creepy.

[mookie2001]

its a fact facebook has always been lame, now its just a hassle for everyone i know who has had it, it really can only do harm

for many people facebook is the internets, young kids and old people. the whole thing is very strange

diversity is good even on the internets, facebook wont last too much longer

[phxspurfan]

I have college profs, former managers, relatives/parents, coworkers and junior coworkers as friends on the site. But I definitely censor everything on fb, including my tagged photos. I'm beginning to think I should block the wall soon too. My coworkers found out I was leaving AZ before they should have because of fb, and rumors spread quickly through the office.

I had one pester me about adding him at work to the point where I just accepted, but yeah I can see how it can get out of hand. I mean these aren't real friends.

[Whisky Dog]

I have a family acquaintance that I've played COD with online once... I was invited to his XBL party and was confused by all of the people in the group with him. He's a 24 year old HS teacher/baseball coach and, I eventually figured out, was playing COD with all of his students. A) it was horribly annoying with tons of high school kids but more importantly... B) it was kinda creepy.

Yeah I never understood how a teacher can do that. Back in '97 during my junior year of HS I had this English teacher - female in her late 20's but not at all attractive - who would socialize with a small group of her students. One Friday night I was blazing and drinking a bit with the two friends I did that with the most when my gf called and said to meet her and her friends at a bowling alley to hang out. We get to the bowling alley and there's our English teacher hanging out with about 8 of our classmates. It was weird to say the least.

[ploto]

Teacher adding her students? Hell no.

I know one of those and he is asking for trouble!

[Sisk]

I keep my private life and work life seperate. I don't feel the need to have my boss or co-worker on FB and to a lesser extent, MySpace. It's not for a lack of camaraderie, because I get along well with my boss and my co-worker. It's just some things are best left unmixed.

i agree with this.. never mix that crap

nothing good can come out of it IMO

[tlongII]

its a fact facebook has always been lame, now its just a hassle for everyone i know who has had it, it really can only do harm

for many people facebook is the internets, young kids and old people. the whole thing is very strange

diversity is good even on the internets, facebook wont last too much longer

I think you're wrong. Facebook will be around for a while. Humans are social animals and seek out all of the connections they can. I like to see what's up with people I like and I also like to see what's going on at places I like. Facebook is a good way to do that.

[ashbeeigh]

I've untagged unfavorable photos, have watched what I have posted in status updates and have watched what groups and items I "fan." However, I do see facebook as another networking tool and for that reason do no shy away from accepting friend requests from bosses or co-workers. I won't seek out a boss or co-worker to friend request them, though. That's just creepy. But, if they request it and I am watching what I post then i don't see what the problem is. But, unless you severely scared my ego from the age of 11-15 I'll probably accept your friend request.

I think the last person I friend requested was someone I connected to on twitter.

[Stringer_Bell]

There's no reason for you to stalk your worker bees on Facebook. If they have a work related problem, take care of it at work.

There's no need to add your boss on Facebook, it's your boss. If you want to have a better working relationship take your boss out to lunch.

Facebook's overall interface also annoys me and I don't like navigating it, so maybe the people that like all that AJAX script bullshit have a better outlook on "censoring" and adding people on it. But I don't.

[mrsmaalox]

I don't have a boss or employees, but I also don't have much incriminating activity that will make any difference on FB. I only friend people I know, they don't find anything surprising on my page. But I check my daughter's FB frequently and I'm finding it rather alarming the number of teachers and friend's parents she is friends with. I haven't friended my own kids because I don't want any of their friends showing up as recommendations. Same goes for my friends or relatives kids. I've gone thru her friends list many times with her and had her delete all the adults I don't know. And as far as the teachers go, I'm just waiting for the stupid teacher who has the innappropriate relationship to be exposed on FB so that FB and school districts will prohibit that kind of friending. Cuz you know it's just a matter of time....

[san antonio spurs]

So this morning Facebook "suggested" that I add my boss and the only person I ever had to fire as friends. Either FB has a great sense of humor or it's hitting the crack pipe awfully hard this morning. But it also got me thinking.

I'm pretty sure all of my worker monkeys are on Facebook. They've mentioned it at least in passing. I wouldn't consider any of them to really be friends of mine but there have been times where I've wondered if they've been ill when they've called in sick or if I would find pictures of them shitfaced in New Orleans during that time on the FB pages. I go back and forth on whether that kind of oversight ability would be useful or just Big Brotherish.

And while I'd have to censor myself if I added my boss it wouldn't hurt if I could develop a friendlier working relationship with it.

Then I decided since it's Monday and there isn't shit to do I'd ask Spurstalk. How many of you out there have any employees, co-workers, or bosses as friends or whatever on Facebook, MySpace, etc? Has it been a positive or a negative? Any good stories to come of it?

Well... I have some of my employees on facebook and I think it's great way of increasing the workplace chemistry. However, you should wait for them to send you a friend request, not for ethics purposes but for free decision etiquette (when you invite them, you obviously don't give them that much of a choice loll).
I like it because it adds another dimension in the employee-boss relationship. It allows them to be more comfortable with me and vice-versa. I personally believe the era of keeping a distance between the boss and the employee is over... For example when someone has a birthday I don't think it's a stretch to leave them a birthday wish on their wall or a congratulation comment when they post pics of their new born.

You should never use facebook to spy them however. What you see on their facebook page should never be used against them at work. It should serve you as another way to improve the relationships because it will improve their results also.

[Soul_Patch]

I have a couple of higher ups in my company as friends on FB...We rarely even talk so i guess its kind of pointless.

I try and be reserved with what i put up there, but for the most part, nothing i am going to say or do is or should be detrimental to my employment anywhere. I did have to block feeds from a friend who loved to post pictures of his latest stash of pot on his page....you would think after 32 years he would have gotten over that, but apparently he is the same guy i knew back when we were 16 / 17 years old....I dont need a big bag of pot being associated with me for various reasons! lol.....

[ploto]

I haven't friended my own kids because I don't want any of their friends showing up as recommendations.

The main rule I had for my child was that I had to be his friend so I could regularly monitor what people post on his wall. I have never gotten a recommendation to friend any of his friends.

I also had the rule that his only friends are kids around his age or relatives. No adult friends period that are not genetically related to him- like older cousins. As he has gotten older this rule has had to relax a little because he has friends that are 18 or 19 now.

[Mixability]

I use it for friends (outside of work) and family. Facebook is pretty clean compared to myspace, but you never know who will access your page and use it against you. I'd rather be offline to my fellow employees.

[mrsmaalox]

The main rule I had for my child was that I had to be his friend so I could regularly monitor what people post on his wall. I have never gotten a recommendation to friend any of his friends.

I also had the rule that his only friends are kids around his age or relatives. No adult friends period that are not genetically related to him- like older cousins. As he has gotten older this rule has had to relax a little because he has friends that are 18 or 19 now.

My daughter is not allowed to have a private wall, so I can still see everything without friending her. Also, there are no private areas on my page either---I just don't put up any personal info.

[ploto]

My daughter is not allowed to have a private wall, so I can still see everything without friending her.

That means everyone else can see it too-- not an option I wanted.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

-I just don't put up any personal info.

That's reserved for here. :lol

[Shelly]

Since I'm not in a typical work situation like most, my FB is no big deal...I don't put anything up that people don't already know. My 17 year old won't friend me, but I don't care because he has all my family members (including my mom!) as his friend. My 14 year old couldn't care less about FB and neither does my husband.

I won't request to be friends with my friends kids, but if they request to be my friend, I accept. Again, there's nothing to hide on my end. I even have goofy 80s pictures up.

I have found people I went to school with in Luxembourg, which was really cool, and we're most likely going to have a reunion this summer. I also re-connected with people I went to high school with--including my best friend that I lost touch with and just went to my 25th high school reunion back in October and had a blast.

YMMV...

[Whisky Dog]

Isn't face book cited as a contributing factor in something like 60% of divorces within the last couple of years? It's the reason I got rid of mine, I was having lonely ex's looking me up and contacting me fairly often, which isn't good for the current relationship. I can see how it just skyrockets the temptation factor.

[ShoogarBear]

Create a separate dummy FB account for the sole purpose of spying.