Friending Colleagues on Facebook: Pros and Cons

With over 900 million people on Facebook, chances are your coworkers are on the popular social networking site.

Is it ever OK to friend a colleague? That’s a tricky question. People you friend on Facebook will be able to see your information, photos, and life updates. If you have anything personal or potentially embarrassing on your profile, it could affect your professional image.

But Facebook has been around since 2004, and many users now know how to control what others see by tweaking their privacy settings. And it could be beneficial for your career to be friendly with the people you work with.

So what to do? Let’s go over the pros and cons.



Pros

Friendship. Sometimes, you form genuine friendships with colleagues. For those that you see outside of the workplace for social reasons, it’s perfectly natural to friend them on Facebook.

Transparency. Some corporate cultures may be all about openness and collaboration. Especially in workplaces like technology start-ups, friending coworkers may be routine and commonplace.

Cons

Lost privacy. People can find out some highly personal things about you from your Facebook page. Designating a “limited” view in your privacy settings for certain people lets you control what they see.

One caveat, however, is that Facebook has been known to change their privacy controls and default settings—sometimes without proper notification to users. Log in regularly to check your settings, and stay tuned to the news for any major changes to Facebook’s design or features.

Possible Resentment or Awkwardness. What if you receive an unwanted friend request? You are not obligated to friend someone simply to avoid workplace tension. Thankfully there are two things you can do to smooth over potential conflict:

• Go to your “friends” settings and do not allow the general public to view your friends list. That way, your colleagues won’t know that you rejected their friend requests while accepting others’ from work. 
• If you ignore a request but fear that it will cause problems, talk to that person directly. Say that you like to limit the number of your friends on Facebook, or that you keep your personal and work-related lives separate, and invite them to connect with you on a professional networking site like LinkedIn.

Human Resources Professionals and Managers

If you work in HR or manage a team, friending a coworker might also pose some problems. As an HR staffer, you may end up in the awkward position of reporting your colleague if he or she posts inappropriate or confidential information. Friending a subordinate could result in the manager losing his or her credibility if the wrong information is revealed. Likewise, subordinates could lose the respect of their supervisors by posting a photo or update indicating irresponsible behavior.

A personal life should be personal. Feel free to connect with colleagues on Facebook, but remain mindful of the relationships and reputation you have to maintain at work.

--Joanna Kim

Joanna Kim is a Writer/Content Strategist for HRI.