To Friend or Not to Friend

I started using Facebook when I was a freshman in college, when profiles were filled with favorite movies, music and that picture you looked great in from the weekend before.  It has been 5 years since its inception, and Facebook has evolved from a way for college kids to keep up with their friends to a business communication tool. Now more than ever, companies are using this popular community to recruit talent for open positions and connect with their current employees.

A diploma, a move back home and a few job applications later, I find myself in a fulltime position with a company I love.  Each time I log onto my beloved Facebook account, it seems everywhere I turn another one of my colleagues has jumped on the Facebook bandwagon.   Do I friend them?  Do I REALLY want my boss seeing what I do outside of work?   One can’t help but wonder where to draw the line between personal and professional, especially in a society where people can easily find out what flavor coffee I ordered this morning.

To me, the answer was pretty clear; why not become Facebook friends with my fellow employees?  Privacy settings and de-tagged pictures aside, I don’t mind my colleagues viewing the same quotes in my profile as my college friends who said them.  The way I see it, if I am worried about my coworkers seeing incriminating information on my Facebook profile….should it really be there in the first place?  Facebook has helped me build relationships around the office and strike up conversations along the lines of “I saw your pictures on Facebook from Newport last weekend, did you have fun?”  Facebook is a window into people’s lives and an outlet to friendship.

Speaking of pictures, I think the component of Facebook people are most concerned about coworkers seeing are the ever-popular tagged photographs.  Whether you spend the weekend at the Cape or a Friday night with a red cup and a mini-skirt, you can’t hide from pictures….but with Facebook you can.  As public as Facebook has become, it allows you to be as private as you want. You can choose who views your pictures or any part of your profile.  Why not take advantage of the privacy settings Facebook offers while still sending your boss a friend request?  You can maintain a sense of solitude and still keep that virtual affiliation.

Facebook’s mission statement says “Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”  There is nothing wrong with friending your mom, your roommate’s boyfriend or your boss as long as you monitor the information you expose.  In the end, the more connections you have the better, because you know what they say; it’s not what you know it’s who you know.

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