Do you friend your co-workers on Facebook? 2

[hinesward]

I'm going to assume that most people here are on Facebook, so I figured I will get a lot of opinions. Since I see everyone's computer, I know that a lot of my co-workers are on Facebook. A lot of them have also friended each other. Fortunately, my name is common enough that I wouldn't be that easy to find.

I also think that friending my co-workers on Facebook would be a HUGE mistake. I have noticed that they have friended each other. I have 835 friends on Facebook, so I figure it's only a matter of time before I bump into one of my co-workers.

Work is work, and personal life is personal. I am very political on Facebook. I express my opinions on Facebook. I say things on Facebook that I would never say in the workplace. My company doesn't need to know anything about my life. I figure that anything I do on Facebook can and will be used against me.

What does everyone else think? Do you friend your co-workers on Facebook?

 

[paterson]

Trust is a pretty big and elusive quality to find with general friendships typical of working relationships. I would tread lightly and be very aware of your privacy settings.

_______________________________________________________________

If you did not take enough time to get it right the first time...

What makes you think that you have time to fix it?

 

[Glenn9999]

Don't have co-workers and don't have a Facebook account.

That being said, with the tendency of employers to dig and dig ever more into the personal lives of their employees via means such as the Internet, I would say it is a very bad idea to have such things public, and to friend co-workers.

I'm waiting for the white paper entitled "Finding Employment in the Era of Occupational Irrelevancy

 

[hjgoldstein]

I have a Facebook account. I have no personal information on it and only look at it intermittently. None of my (few) "friends" are co-workers. I don't really know why I have an account.

I keep my opinions to myself. Can't be accused of anything then.

It is time for pacifists to stand up and fight for their beliefs.

 

[Welshbird]

I don't really feel that I have anything to hide from my co-workers, but that being said, I see them every day. My facebook friends are those that I find it more difficult to keep in touch with. That's what it's for, as far as I'm concerned.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[Noway2]

I don't have a facebook account. Employers, not just prospective ones, are showing a tendency to make decisions based on what is on places like facebook. Right or wrong, and I am squarely in the "it is wrong camp", that is enough reason for me to stay away. It isn't even just businesses that appear to be using facebook for investigative purposes. Take for example this situation:

Someone I know told me that where they work, someone threw a party and invited about 10 co-workers. At the party the alcohol flowed freely and a number of them got stupid and the antics wound up on facebook. Unfortunately, one of the co-workers was only 20 (in the states) and now there is both a work based and legal investigation with potential "charges" pending in both areas because some big bad adult allowed a 20 year old access to beer. The investigation(s) were prompted because of, you guessed it, the facebook page.

 

[tcsbiz]

I agree that work and personal life are separate. That doesn't mean I don't have a drink with a co-worker on occasion. But, that's as far as it goes. I have a Facebook account but find the interface pretty odd. I doubt that I would ever "friend" a co-worker.

The strange thing about Facebook is that people were ragging on me for not having an account. Then, when I do, they rag on me for not being logged in all day every day. That is a waste of time for me. I log in a couple of times a month and accept or reject "friends". I rarely update my "wall". My life is pretty boring and there's really very little to say.

 

[JCreamerII]

I don't and won't have a page on Facebook. Don't see the need. I try to keep my coworkers at arms length because they come and go, and not always in a good way. As noted by some of the respondents here, keep your work separate from your private life. Also remember whatever gets up there can come back and bite you, years later.

Jim C.

 

[SF0751]

I have a Facebook account for one reason; so I can keep tabs on what my step-children are up to (they live in another city from us). I do not have my real name on my FB account; I use the character name that I use for role-playing games, etc. I seldom post updates; I never post photos, and I've never used the wall.

Like Fee, I can also see using FB to connect with friends and/or family who I don't have an opportunity to see often, but I haven't gotten around to doing that.

I would never use FB to connect in any way, shape, or form with co-workers. Work is work. Home is home. For me, contact with co-workers ends at 5pm.

Susan
You can have it all. You just can't have it all at once.

 

[SQLSister]

I have Facebook friends who are co-workers. The local ones are people who I consider to be friends outside of work, we socialize together. Also the company I work for has multiple geographic locations and I work closely with people in another location (they are our users) and I find it helps to have a personal, nonwork-oriented connection with some of those I work with. It makes me more than just a person they get emails from and it makes me understand them more and have something personal to talk to them about when I have to call them for business reasons (small talk does make it easier for users to deal with programmers).

It also keeps me in touch with people as they move on to other jobs and that is part of networking. Never know when that guy you worked with 5 years ago might be the one who helps you get the next job.

But I never post anyhing about the company there (except the occasional sympathy when someone is working overtime or on a deadline) or anything that it would worry me for HR to see. Nor do my co-workers.

I did have to defriend a former co-worker because he put up a Hitler photo as his profile pic. Can't have that showing and won't stay friends with anyone who would do that.

"NOTHING is more important in a database than integrity." ESquared

 

[MasterRacker]

I don't have a FB account and hope never to. If I ever did, I would never use my real name or post anything personally identifiable at all. I would probably never friend anyone either since friend list analysis could probably help pin down who you are. ( I don't recall ever even hitting the site.)

I do have a LinkedIn account and some connections there, but that account is essentially my online resume and nothing more. Different purpose and currently, I rarely visit the site.

Like everyone else I believe work is work and private life is private life. And I do mean *private*. I'm happily married, so not looking for a date, so unless someone wants to give me a boatload of money I don't want anyone 'finding' me. ;-)

Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]

 

[dkediger]

No Facebook-o - No Problem-o!

Seriously, not too long ago I about broke down and created one, until a "friend" didn't believe that I couldn't tell him my Facebook ID because I didn't have one. Went psycho thinking I was stiffing him, yada, yada. No thanks, Don't want.

 

[kmcferrin]

I have a page on facebook. I only put it up so that someone else couldn't "claim me" or my identity. I have a handful of "friends" on facebook who are mostly relatives or distant friends. I check it every few weeks. I never post anything, but that doesn't mean that other people haven't posted things about me or in some way linked to me in conversation. Unfortunately those are areas that you have no control over, and most people on facebook post before they think (i.e., underage drinking, inappropriate comments, telling their friends that they are leaving for vacation for two weeks out of state, etc).

So you have:

a. Limited to no control over what other people connect you with.
b. Constantly changing security and privacy settings that always tends towards publishing everything rather than restricting anything.
c. Employers and potential employers using Facebook to dig for dirt.

Sounds like a recipe for trouble, if you ask me.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator

 

[hinesward]

I haven't posted anything about my job or company on Facebook. That doesn't mean that there won't be other things. I'm a Laker fan, for example. If my CEO is a Celtic fan, would I want him to know that? I will talk about the Lakers at the office with some people, but only a select few.

"Anything you say can and will be used against you." It doesn't matter if you think it will be or not.

I have friend past co-workers though, quite a bit of them.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Everything that has been said thus far has merit, and it's good advice.

I do have a facebook account, but I'm not terribly active. I'm also not worried about anything I post on facebook, because I don't say or act any differently online than I do in person. If I won't say it to your face, then I won't post it on line. I am who I am, regardless of the "medium", if you will.


--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[DTSMAN]

I don't facebook.

I use LinkedIn to stay in touch with coworkers of present and past. It seems to be a more for professional type use and everyone uses their real names and where they work.
This is the only site that I converse on where I don't know who I am talking too.

Bo

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
(Red Green)

http://www.redgreen.com

 

[traingamer]

I don't have a facebook account, either. I value my privacy and my time.

If and when I do open an account, it will be for staying in touch with relatives and other friends who live out of town. I went to a funeral service for my 96 year old aunt last weekend and was surprised to discover that all of my uncles (the youngest is 82) and most of my cousins have a presence there.

Greg
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. Kierkegaard

 

[flapeyre]

I have an account, and I do have co-workers as friends (along with a few ex-co-workers). I do not post anything risque or business-related on FB at all. I also have Twitter and LinkedIn accounts that are tied in with FB. Most of the Twitterers I follow are news and politics related, and if I re-tweet a link, it will show up on LinkedIn and Facebook as well. Should you friend me on FB, you know where I'm coming from. I have FB friends (including relatives) of a different political bent than myself, and I don't have a problem with that. I figure if someone is offended by my posts and un-friends me, it's worth a shrug and no more.


-- Francis
Et cognoscetis veritatem, et veritas liberabit vos.

 

[lespaul]

I have a FB account and really enjoy being able to keep in contact with relatives who live in different parts of the country (makes me feel connected to what they are doing and things in their life), people I have met on vacations and some co-workers. Like someone said above, I don't put anything on my FB page that I wouldn't say in person. I don't bad mouth my company and other than looking fatter than I would like to, none of my pictures are compromising in any way.

Some of my FB co-worker friends, I see outside of work, but not many. It is nice to be able to "small talk" about outside work items with those that I work with but don't socialize with.

Leslie

 

[ousoonerjoe]

Facebook is simply a bad idea. More and more, HR and managers are trolling through FB to see what employees (or potential employees) are posting, particularly about the company. I've seen people busted from playing hookie because they posted something on FB the night before and their boss found it.

Another thing about FB... you may only have a co-worker, but they may have your manager friended, or HR, etc. All you've done is made it easier for them to find you. You say you have things on there you would never say at work.... then do not add co-workers. Work places are incubators for rumors and gossip. If one person knows, they'll all find out.

--------------------------------------------------
Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
--------------------------------------------------