Is your boss on your FB friends list?

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

My boss and several of my CWs use Facebook regularly and are all on one anothers friend list. They keep bugging me to add them but I haven't yet.

I did have several of my coworkers from my last job on my list including one of my bosses but we were all around the same age range and shared similar interests. My current boss is about 20 years older than I am with a very different background (not that that's a bad thing, I just can't see many of our interests lining up on FB).

Generally speaking, I'm not too fond of the idea in general. I'm not one of those people who complains about work on FB and if I do, it's in very coded terms (i.e. "Man today was rough, sometimes the world just runs you right over!").

At the same time, I don't really want my boss to have too much access to my personal life. I'm a big believer in keeping work lives and personal lives separate when there's a direct report relationship present.

[bhskittykatt]

I have only one CW on my FB friends list, and we knew each other before she started working there.

As an MOD, I've been told from above that "friending" CWs on FB is dubious at best, and best practice is that it should be avoided. (Not that I would want to friend them on FB anyway.)

I do have a lot of former CWs on FB, however.

[drunkenwildmage]

I don't have anyone from work in my FB friends list, and no matter how much I like them at work, I refuse to add anyone.

I also don't list who my currently employer is on FB and try to be vague as possible with anything related to work. The problem is a few of my friends know who I work for, and have no problem linking me whenever they bitch about anything to do with with the company I work for in a such a way that they expect me to drop everything and personally resolve every little issue they have

[PepperElf]

The only coworkers I have on my FB are former coworkers who are elsewhere in the world. Granted I don't ever complain about work on FB anyway - that's what CS is for isn't it?


For you... it's up to you if you want to do this but here's some options or ideas to consider

1) Do they even know you have a FB? Can you tell them "I don't use it" or that you barely touch it? (remember though, if you post publicly they'll be able to see through that pretty fast)

2) Do they use FB for work-related tasks? I think it's unprofessional myself but I do know some organizations like to use FB as a work-communications tool. If you need to use FB to communicate with them, you might want to consider just making a second (or first) account just for them only.

and if you do choose to do that and it's a second account, I'd recommend looking at it with a different browser. you don't have to - you can always just log out and then log in and then back etc... but there's always a small risk of posting the wrong thing to the wrong account.


(don't ask me how many FB accounts - and google plus accounts and yahoo accounts and twitter accounts I have for stuff like that. I tend to lose track... let's just say back when Yahoo Chat was popular - and not overrun by bots - one of my friends would see a new weird name show up in chat and automatically say, "Hi, PepperElf!" ... and he'd be right)

[Teskeria]

I actually genuinely don't have a fb account. Although I do often play castleville on my daughter's account. That is actually ALL I do. so when people ask me about it, I can honestly say, 'don't have one. don't want one.'

[The Hurting]

I don't know my manager's last name, and I wouldn't want to add him either. That would be awkward as heck, because of all the work related ranting that I do on FB.

I do have tons of co-workers and former co-workers as FB friends (some of whom are my best friends away from work).

[Jay 2K Winger]

Nope! My boss is not on my FB friends list.









This might be because I don't have a Facebook profile.

[Draper Mel]

I am FB friends with co-workers. It's a way for people in my field to network and stay in touch, since that's how we get a lot of work. Also, we all tend to have similar interests.

As for being FB friends with bosses, I'm only friends with one shop manager here. It's a small shop, so when I work there it feels more like working with a friend than a boss. (I was working there when both my parents died. She was amazingly helpful and understanding) With the other ones I've worked with it would feel a bit odd, as it's more of a professional relationship and they spend more time in their offices.

[mjr]

This is one reason why I don't have a FaceBook account. There are other reasons, sure, but this is definitely one of them.

I don't see the need to have a FB account. And even if I did (and at some point I may), I would be very careful who I "friended" and what I actually put up there.

Though I understand that if FB believes you don't have enough "friends" (whatever that arbitrary number is) they can delete your account.

[Moirae]

A few old ones are. But I actually consider them friends even after all these years. They were good people when I work with and for them, and they are good people now. But I haven't added anyone that I work with in a long time.

[NotAlBundy]

If my employees want to friend request me, that's fine. I'll add them. I just put them on my list of work people, and that list of people is blocked from seeing 99% of my profile and status updates.

[Pixilated]

*snip*

I don't see the need to have a FB account. And even if I did (and at some point I may), I would be very careful who I "friended" and what I actually put up there.

Though I understand that if FB believes you don't have enough "friends" (whatever that arbitrary number is) they can delete your account.

I was only vaguely aware of FB when a few members of a Yahoo group I belonged to said, "Oooh, let's all join Facebook!" I've been giving some thought lately of deleting the damn thing; it can suck up way too much of your time to no real purpose.

I don't know about not having enough friends ... that may be a bit of urban legend. I think Facebook does delete accounts that are inactive, although I'm not sure how they define "inactive" -- no posts in six months? A year? Two weeks?

I put some coworkers on my FB page from my last job, and some bosses, but I can't recall whether I did so when I was still working there or afterwards. I'd be fairly reluctant to put management folks on my FB account, but I'm hoping to train for a legal office assistant ... and it may be that that's a requirement for the job. We'll have to wait and see. That might be just the push I need to delete the account.

[Yournotimportant]

Yes.... Worst thing to do, I can't complain about my shitty day as if I unfriend them they seem to know so I get "why did you unfriend me blah blah blah" not good!!

[Peppergirl]

Meh - Im a middle-management type. Supervisor. I have most of my employees on mine and one of my bosses.

I think most of my emps friended me because Im 'the cool one', and it's always been my policy that unless you're threatening to harm yourself or shoot up the town, I'm not going to rat you out.

As far as my higher-ups, the worst I ever say is stuff like "Im getting too old for 3rd shift" or "man - full moon has brought out the crazies tonight". Nothing truly offensive.

Now, I have removed a couple of my co-workers from other departments who are on the same level as me, mainly because I got tired of them trash-talking my department and nitpicking us to death. I lost all respect for them, so I'm not going to be fake and keep them as FB friends when I don't, you know, like them.

[Blue Ginger]

I am a big believer in not mixing work and home. Depending on your job/industry, some people can use it as a way of trying to get you to work out of hours. It has happened to a few friends. My employer only gets a say during my work hours. Outside of that, my life is my life. What I do should not affect them at all.

I don't add anyone to Facebook until I am no longer working with them. I also never put where I work. This is to protect my own butt. If I want to put a post up at 3am saying 'I don't want to go to work tomorrow', I should be able to without every man and his dog questioning me. If I want to bitch about something that happens at work, I should be able to.

A few excuses I have used:
- I only use it to keep up with my family
- I only use it to keep in contact with overseas/long distance friends
- I don't have an account
- I'm rarely on it

And it goes without saying that if you don't want to add work people, make sure your profile is locked. (Mine is barely findable, you need to be at least a friend of a friend. I also don't have myself as the profile pic.)