Thu, May 13, 2010
The Boss: Facebook Friend Or Foe?
Posted by Kathy O'Reilly
Which situation is more uncomfortable: the boss who friends an employee on Facebook and receives no response, or the employee who receives the friend request and feels obligated to accept? Many would argue each situation can be equally unsettling.
A recent survey conducted by Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project found “56% of Americans think it’s ‘irresponsible’ to friend your boss on Facebook, while 62% of bosses agree it’s wrong to friend an employee.” There are certainly enough blog posts written about why employees shouldn’t friend the boss on Facebook, but what advice can we give the boss?
If you’re a boss contemplating sending a Facebook friend request to a direct report, here are some simple guidelines to help you decide long before you and your employee enter the discomfort zone of no return.
If your motive for “friending” an employee falls under any one of the following four criteria, then you need to stop and rethink before hitting that “send friend request” connection.
The Top 4 Reasons a Boss Should Never Friend an Employee on Facebook
1) Spying on your employee. You don’t trust your direct report and rather than confronting them in person, you friend them on Facebook to check up on what they’re saying and doing and then use that information against them.
2) Engaging in work-related talk. Wall posts are not the place to announce to your employee’s network of friends that “the big report for the boss is due at 3pm today, so stop posting messages to friends and get back to work” for the entire world to see.
3) Worming your way into your employee’s network of friends. If your employee is friends with influential influencers or very cool people, don’t start friending those people expecting them to friend you back. Do not force a friendship where there isn’t one at the expense of your employee’s reputation.
4) Pulling rank to gain creative control over your employee’s content. Don’t encourage your employee to post photos of the company picnic or the latest press release headline about a new product launch. Don’t ask your employee to remove content you think is inappropriate or goes against your beliefs, causing the employee to self-censor everything he/she does.
On the flipside, as the boss, you have the responsibility of testing the water with your employee first before engaging in a social media relationship. In much the same way you would socialize with an employee outside the office, use the same discretion. If you and your employee share a common interest, that may be a reason to connect. If you are both parents, if you’re both avid sports fans, if you both love to read, if you have anything in common where you share a passion, you may have a common bond where connecting further on Facebook makes sense.
If you were friends prior to your current working relationship, then extend that friendship on Facebook. If many of your company’s employees are on Facebook, including your direct reports, Facebook can be a great way of giving public shout-out’s and accolades for a job well done and further team-building and a sense of community.
Above all, privacy settings on Facebook are a wonderful thing. Employees can put the boss and co-workers in separate Friends lists on Facebook and adjust privacy settings so the boss sees some content, but not all. This makes connecting with the boss, Mom, Dad and others a bit more comfortable, without the need to self-censor or “de-friend” along the way.
Ever gotten an unsolicited “friend” request from a boss or co-worker? What are the rules of engagement? What do you think about “friending” your bosses and co-workers?
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2 Responses to “The Boss: Facebook Friend Or Foe?”
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13. May, 2010
[...] here: The Boss: Facebook Friend Or Foe? | MonsterThinking A Friend… > School News > Stories > Denver > YourHub.comMMA: Bergmann [...]
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May 14, 2010 at 11:05 AM
I think that when a company uses social media as part of it’s marketing strategy, it can be great to have your employees on Facebook along with the company, the boss, etc…
In that case, have each employee start an “employee” profile – seperate from his or her personal profile, and allow them 1/2 hour per week (or whatever is realistic) to post on their employee profile. If you want your employees to use social media to help build your brand, you have to make using that social media part of their job description – while for some it’s an easy and enjoyable experience, others wont see the benefit.
With how often Facebook changes security settings, I wouldn’t count on the Friends Lists to draw the line between social and professional.
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