If you have photos like the one below, you would never want your boss to see that online.
To friend or not to friend that is the question. Of course the obvious answer is no. But is offline socialization is the same thing as online socialization? Well not exactly.
For example, I am taking my daugter to see a Dora the Explorer show and I am inviting my boss and her daughters, not to "kiss up," but because I know our kids have met before at our Christmas Party they all love Dora.
So am I adding my boss to facebook? The short answer is no, but I would. I am not posting anything on Facebook that anyone doesn't want to know. But I do supervise people and I don't necessarily want to be on their "friend" list. Sound off below and let's start the discussion.
Comments
There's always an exception, but for the most part my answer is "NO" to the title question.
Online socialization has somehow blurred boundary lines. Work is work & personal/social life is personal/social life. While I may not post anything questionable (TO ME) on FB, it is still my arena in which to freely express myself.
For some FB (or any other social networking site) is just a site, where a picture has been posted and a wall posting is exchanged every now & again. But for others, it is a place to connect, vent, share & collaborate.
On or offline, people should always be the gatekeeper of their social space.
So what about those whose jobs have networks on FB? Does that mess with the social aspect of Facebooking?
Da' Realist
Great Question. I would not do it. There are somethings that are personal and should not be shared with my boss and vice-versa. I would not want to know what he ate last night or what movie he watched or when he went to bed and I won't want him knowing any of my non-work activities. Not that I have anything to hide but my life away from the office is my life you know. Unless my boss is my friend outside the office meaning we hang out regularly or I go to his house then we will not be friends on Facebook. LinkedIn is a different story.
ok now that I clicked the link to the story about the question that brings up another point. The Boss of the intern pictured with the beer and the wand and the costume was not a member of Facebook and thus not his friend and according to the story was ratted out by a coworker. From the email posted, the intern did not lie and who knows if he went to the party after taking care of whatever he went to NY for. To me that's invasion of privacy on the boss's part and he should not be checking up on employees whereabouts. That is totally unacceptable and does not fit your original criteria of whether or not to friend your boss on FB. Even if the pictures were shared only with friends if the co-worker was not his friend the picture would never have been traced back to his time away from work also are there any legal issues withe boss emailing the picture to the entire company. I think that could be a violation and even contrued as harrassment. Suppose Kevin hid his sexual preferences at work now he is openly put on blast by a company executive. Wow! Honestly
Kevin should not have posted the picture it would have been better for him.
Well if MY boss was well you, then yeah I'd Facebook ya, however if it was someone with a more conservative opinion of life and the work field like say uh...Tonya, then NO I wouldn;t! Nice article though, gave me MY title for tomorrow's Political piece! Gotta wait and check out to see...PEACE!
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