Thinking About Friending Your Boss on Facebook? Think Again.

By Beth J. Bates, New Media Special Correspondent

Many professionals struggle with how much to share on Facebook and whether to "friend" or connect with co-workers and clients. Many users question whether a colleague or customer will know if they "deny" a connection on Facebook. While Facebook will not notify the user making the request that they were denied, they will see that you are not a friend in their friend list. So confirm and deny with caution.

A recent survey from OfficeTeam shows that executives are very uncomfortable with being "friended" on Facebook by subordinates and superiors. Executives were randomly selected form phone interviews from the nation's top 1000 largest companies. The survey highlights include:

• 32% were "not comfortable at all" being friended by their boss
• 33% were "not comfortable at all" being friended by subordinates
• 33% were "not comfortable at all" being friended by clients
• 38% were "not comfortable at all" being friended by vendors

Specific concerns include:

• Being tagged in an embarrassing photo.
• Really enjoying Facebook games and quizzes.
• Wanting to join non-professional groups or fan pages.

While I use Facebook for both personal and professional use, I am in the process of setting up a fan page for professional purposes. I hope that this helps shift my friends interested in my professional endeavors to another area of Facebook. I encourage anyone using Facebook among colleagues or customers to familiarize yourself with Facebook's privacy settings and use them. They will give you peace of mind and will I hope help you avoid any sketchy situations.

The moral? You might want to think twice about friending your co-workers on Facebook. While you might be comfortable with the connection, they may feel otherwise.

Beth J. Bates consults with Hinge on social media tool selection and strategy and helps its clients find effective ways to leverage these new mediums to meet business goals.