I'm kind of on a roll on the subject of work, so let's keep it going, shall we? ;)
The women in my company are all on Facebook. My boss, my boss's boss, my colleagues, and my staff. They're all friends on the site (well, most of them) and I think it's weird. The only people I will make friends with on FB is my management, just because we're already so close. We kind of have to be, we're together 40 hours a week!
I'm 99% sure I DO NOT want to be friends with my boss on Facebook.
It's not that I'm "hiding" anything or that I put on a sort of false facade when around my boss, colleagues or higher ups. I am always myself and my Facebook is page is very... me. It just strikes me as borderline unprofessional to befriend them on social networking sites.
Today we were in meetings all day, and my regional manager shouted out something regarding pictures on Facebook (I think it was during lunch) and I just sort of pretended I didn't hear here and ducked out of the conversation.
There's just something about it that strikes me as odd. Am I behind in the times? Is Facebook more than just a social networking site for your friends? Have colleagues and employers joined the bunch? Is it appropriate? Thoughts?
8 comments:
I think facebook is slowly becoming more mainstream. I think the disconnect for me is that facebook started when I was in college, so it was more of a college thing. A place to post pictures of partying on the weekend.
But for people who weren't in college when it came out, I would assume think of it differently. My mom's on facebook and facebook friends with some of her co-workers. Although me and my mom are not facebook friends, because she feels that would be a little weird. Which is just fine by me!
facebook is becoming more mainstream but i have become very selective with who can see what...
i did however see that one of my co-workers was facebook friends with one of our supervisors and i think it is odd. i will not be going that far... i would never want something that someone might see as incriminating to catch up with me at work via facebook.
I agree with Shoshanah. I got on there when it was still new and only for college kids. As it's changed it's policies and allowed more people to get on. I've become VERY selective in who is allowed to see what. When I got my job with the gov. some of my coworkers including a boss found me and friended me. When that happened I felt I had no other choice but to accept because hello...they sought me out. So what i ended up doing was making it to where they could only see just a few things on my page.
My office is pretty small, like I said before we are only 3 in this office. My co-worker and I are friends on Facebook but we are friends at work as well. We tell each other EVERYTHING. If my boss were to be a Facebooker, I'd friend him because we do have that sort of relationship. We all sit around and have lunch and tell each other funny stories of our lives, what happened on the weekend.
I do think there are some boundaries that shouldn't be crossed. My other two co-workers (sales reps) are friends on FB but limited profile. We aren't that close and I don't want them to see my picture, read my blog, see my status updates. They can basically see wall posts, profile picture, and my info.
I think its just a matter of who you are comfortable showing what to.
As for what you post on FB... I'd keep it professional IF your profile is public. When we were looking to hire someone the first thing my boss did was google the name and we automatically found the FB page of a potential employee and her page made us decide she wasn't a good fit. Her statuses were slamming her current employer, her pictures were of her getting drunk every weekend....
My actual boss(s) are old and borderline computer illiterate, but I have a lot of my co-workers on Facebook. I've alluded on my blog to the fact that I work for the Army and now the Army has mandated as of two weeks ago that Facebook will not ever be blocked again on government computers and that it is a way to tell the "soldier story." The other day I was at an event with a bunch of officers and they were discussing that it's how they communicate more than their government e-mail, because it's easier to use the FB instant messenger than the Army instant messenger. I think Facebook is becoming more like LinkedIn. I started out on it as something akin to MySpace my freshman year in college, but now I have co-workers, potential job associates (from high ranking military officers to psychologists), and friends. I keep it very professional because there's way too many people I don't want on there. I'm careful with my pictures, monitoring my comments, etc. I don't ENJOY it, but it's definitely more like LinkedIn. I use my MySpace as my "fun" place, where I don't have professors as friends. Seriously. I totally understand where you're coming from, though!
One of my favorite work blogs actually just posted about this: http://work-girl.blogspot.com/2009/06/working-girl-one-and-intern-are-not.html
My boss, my CEO, and most of my colleagues are on Facebook. I've just learned to live with it. I don't post anything crazy on there and it actually made it easier when my mom and relatives started joining. I'd already been censoring things to a certain degree!
Even if you don't think you should be friends with them on FB, you have to know employers are searching FB profiles and all that stuff, so it's best to censor what's out there anyway.
I am having a love/hate relationship with Facebook right now. I love the fact that I can keep in touch with friends and family through it. However, when people just add me for no reason at all, then why add me? What I mean is if you are adding me as a friend is because you want to know what is going on in my life and have some sort of dialogue. But some people add me and I will write to them and don't hear back. WTF is the point then? Or people who I don't know (or didn't talk to) from high school/work that find me on FB add me.... WHY?!??! There have been people that have added me who I just simply ignore. I may sound like a total bitch but FB is for ME and it's my right to be selective.
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