A classic Facebook question -- addressed in a NY Times blog post -- asked the question, what to do if your boss sends you a FB friend request. It's awkward, because you want to keep your private space, well, private. But, this post asks, what to do if you also don't want to offend your boss (never a good idea, particularly these days) by declining?
Good, no, GREAT question. The blog suggested several things. One of these was setting up specific privacy lists on Facebook to control who sees what. Other ideas ranged from sending a polite note while declining the invitation to the idea of suggesting LinkedIn to your boss as a more professional alternative.
Are all these ideas good solutions? Yes, but I think they don't address the bigger issues. Social networks have evolved so quickly that most people have to struggle to deal. The first big site -- Friendster (anyone remember that?) just made its presence known about six or seven years ago. Now, people struggle to juggle FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and Skype in their private lives. As more businesses try to reach a certain demographic, their use of all of these (well, maybe not Friendster -- sorry Friendster fans) is increasing.
We're constantly writing about being careful what you have on your social network pages -- especially if you're job-hunting. Prospective employers are always interested in the person behind the resume, and are smart enough to check your network pages to find out what you're really like.
A lot of people are outraged by this, and understandably so. One of our posts last year addressed this very issue. But I suspect some things have changed.
Yes, online networking has become such an integral part of our society, and especially the workplace (or the work hunt), that it has turned into a real dilemma -- both ethically and functionally. I think that there continues to be a gray line between work and private life (which I think is the same line you cross every time you work late, or on a weekend, or check email on vacation).
Should your employer stay off your wall?
Photo by avlxyz
Who's looking at your wall?
Labels:
employers,
facebook,
job search,
social networking
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2 comments:
You know, I tend to think that if we're putting it all out there, we're kind of asking people to look at it. And, from an employer's perspective, why wouldn't you want to find out as much as possible about someone before you hire them?
If your Facebook profile is public, I say it's fair game. But it starts crossing that fuzzy ethics line when an employer finds your locked profile, then starts asking around to find someone who knows someone who knows someone you're friends with so he/she can get all the dirt.
I think you make an excellent point about work and life being pretty darn intertwined in a lot of ways -- and I, for one, don't always think that's a bad thing. But because I don't exactly want my public health-y bosses looking through pictures of me doing not-so-public-health-y things on occasional Saturday nights, I choose to keep my Facebook profile private, and put any even semi-professional contacts on a "limited profile" list so they don't see much. I don't protect my Twitter feed, but I do make a conscious effort to not say anything really, really stupid.
FINALLY, at the same time, I always have in the back of my head that if an employer would really not hire me because of what my social networking profiles say (nothing terrible, I promise), I need to do some hardcore thinking if that's the kind of person I want to work for anyway.
Very well put Kate! Ken, this social networking thing sometimes feels like its getting out of control..if we all sit here and worry about whats our bosses or co-workers will think of whats going on in our facebook or social networking world then how will we ever be ourselves? Thats why I think its great that the "limited" profile exists. But then I wonder, if those that are on my limited profile know that they are limited to what they can see about me, then won't they wonder what I'm hiding from them?!
As effective and close social networking brings people from different cultures and different parts of the world, its a big circle of 'what ifs' and 'hmm I wonder'...why cant it be used for the purposes its meant for?
And really with as busy as our lives are getting with everything we have to juggle in this advanced world, do we really have time to make judgments about the character of a person from their Facebook profile?
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