Leave your boss at work
A supervisor probably won’t make the best Facebook friend
As you sip your morning coffee and gnaw on a bagel, you scroll through your Facebook feed. Cousin Sarah posted another cat video. Shocking. Your mom tagged you in an inspirational quote. Great. Then, you notice a new friend request pop up — what a pleasant surprise. But wait, it’s your boss?
You panic. Should you accept it, leading them into a virtual rabbit hole of embarrassing photos and no-longer-funny status updates? Or ignore it, and carry on like business as usual?
You see your manager every day at work, and may even see them as a friend, but Facebook changes things fast: One minute you’re sharing a stapler and the next, they’re sending you FarmVille requests. And while it may be tempting to bond with your boss online, you must refrain. Letting them into your intimate social network is never a good idea.
First of all, it opens a can of unnecessary worms. Does your boss need to know you’re a member of the “Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor of California 2003” Facebook group? Probably not. Will a photo of you shooting tequila at a five-star Mexican resort spark a conversation about a promotion? Unlikely. All our employers need to see is how we perform at work — not our meme-filled profile pages.
“But my boss is cool” you’re thinking. “They won’t care what I post.” Wrong. It doesn’t matter if your head honcho parties harder than Leonardo DiCaprio on a yacht, everything you do on Facebook can and will shape how they view you.
Even if you aren’t Facebook pals, it’s still good to check the security of your profile to know what’s visible to the public: Facebook is constantly changing privacy settings. This goes for bosses, too.
As a professional lark, I’ve searched for nearly every manager I’ve ever had on Facebook, and discovered family photos, MySpace-esque selfies and weird rants about dead celebrities. And this was just the public stuff. Imagine what I would see if we were actually friends.
So before you think about friending your boss, be aware that from then on you’ll need to consider everything you type, post, share and upload. And if that seems like too much hassle for a few likes and games of Candy Crush, add your boss to the social network designated for professional relationships: LinkedIn.