Should You Friend Your Boss On Facebook

Should You Friend Your Boss on Facebook? We have lunch collectively (often). You know my cellphone quantity (however fortunately don’t use it much). I give your children presents for his or her birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs and graduations…But ought to I pal you on Facebook? In at present’s social world, boundaries and “traces” across relationships, and the protocol guiding them, seem to blur the second they’re set. As soon because the marketing department and human resources issue “Social Media Guidelines for XYZ Company Employees,” the addenda and exceptions start flying. With new social media platforms offering creative methods to engage and socialize, we can now know about one another’s private lives, career history, pictures from highschool and most private inner thoughts, on-line. So how are you aware when, the place and the way to join with your employers and influencers on-line? Don’t Leave Yourself Exposed I lately wrote a submit titled Are You Showing Up Naked Online? Of course, I wondered how many individuals clicked on the post to see if I was, in fact, discussing the virtues of public nudity. In reality, it was concerning the vulnerability we frequently expertise if we method social networking and online behavior and not using a proper technique and filter. When engaging in the online area, your goals may be career advancement, social activity and connection or research, as an example. Regardless of why you approach the net space, you possibly can’t neglect that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the net community is watching, listening and noting your successes and indiscretions. Nothing you submit online (on a pc, cellphone, tablet or other electronic machine) is ever, ever non-public. No privateness settings, firewalls or guidelines will protect you if somebody shares your Facebook standing replace, takes a screenshot of your SnapChat picture or forwards your textual content messa ge to your HR Director or the New York Times. (Click here to tweet this thought.) Reporters, hackers, bloggers and employers are all watching. Yes, you heard me. They are even watching you! When you create an internet presence, you open your self and your career up to scrutiny and inspection. While this may sound scary, it’s also a possibility. Instead of working away and deleting all your on-line accounts, why not create a strategy and protocol for your self that will guide and direct the best way you show up online? Having a algorithm for your self and your on-line model will ensure you possibly can build consistency and intention for the narrative, positioning and picture you want to painting. Pros and Cons of Friending Your Boss Within the context laid out above, let’s take a look at some causes you would possibly want to good friend your boss on Facebook, as well as some some causes you may want to put on the dark sunglasses and trench coat and conceal. Every personal brand technique includes a capability to weigh the prices and benefits of a choice. Here are some guides for evaluating this one: Pro: Your boss can view your wholesome life-style and may recognize that you've a constructive work/life steadiness. Con: Posting so many trip photos might cause your employer to suppose you only worth time off and reside for holidays. Pro: You can humanize your private brand by exhibiting your appreciation for the humanities, neighborhood and household. Con: Repeatedly posting unhappy photographs of puppies at excessive-kill shelters could depress your boss and trigger them to equate you with sad things. Pro: Facebook offers you a chance to have fun your successes and people of your friends and family. Con: Celeb rating by partying on a Tuesday afternoon, if you known as in sick, and posting photographs could get you reprimanded at work. There isn't any straightforward cheat sheet of guidelines for everybody on what to submit and what to not submit on Facebook. Using your best judgment, following your values and considering the impression those posts can have on others is an efficient starting place. Angela Roberts, CPA and founding father of the main IT and financial recruiting agency Activity, places it this manner: It’s paramount that employers belief their workers and vice versa. Sometimes, the issues we put on Facebook that we expect are humorous, entertaining or newsworthy can destroy trust back at the workplace. That’s a excessive worth to pay for each workers and their employers. Check the Fine Print Many corporations are developing guidelines and standards for social media. Be certain to consult these earlier than partaking with colleagues and employers online. Some guidelines I’ve heard of are: And so on. Companies that permit use of social media still need to keep up confidentiality, employee privacy and brand integrity while empowering their teams to engage in sturdy conversations and serve as ambassadors for the company model online. This can actually get tough. How does your workplace handle social media engagement among staff? Share within the comments! Image: Photobucket