I live in the US and recently had the opportunity to work in Rio on a short term assignment. After returning back to the US, one of my colleagues from Brazil happened to take a vacation in Washington DC and NYC. Since I live in the DC metro area, I invited him to a happy hour during the week and also to dinner with my fiancé and a friend on a Friday evening. We had a nice dinner and asked our server take a picture of the four of us. By the time I arrived home it was pretty late, I was pleasantly surprised to check my blackberry and learn that I had been tagged in a photo on FB: it was the picture from dinner 🙂 I took a closer look and saw that someone had already “liked” the photo — it was my colleague’s manager, an Associate Partner in Brazil. I found this intriguing (and even a little surprising). It made me pause and think… Would my own manager want to be friends with me on FB? Would it benefit him in any way to see my status updates? He would learn that I ran my first 5K in Rio in September and that I went to a Brazilian film festival in DC in October. This is only hypothetical for me, as my manager is not present on FB. But for others, this might not be hypothetical.
I have a US colleague who wishes to keep her personal and professional lives separate and does not “friend” anyone from work. I have another US colleague who mentioned that she only “friends” people that she would consider inviting to her wedding, so only those truly closest to her earn this privilege. I have other colleagues (in the US and Brazil) who are less rigorous with whom they choose to “friend” on the site. Each of these perspectives is different, and I can appreciate all of them.
So, would you “friend” your manager on FB? Are there any benefits to be gained? What about potential losses? Would this cloud the manager/employee relationship? What about others in your reporting chain, would you “friend” them? Why or why not? What about a client? How would you respond if a client asked you “Are you on Facebook?” and wanted to connect with you there?
I’m really curious to hear responses to these questions! I also wonder how one’s responses may be impacted by his/her culture. The reason I was so intrigued by my Brazilian colleague is that the thought of a manager/employee being “friends” on FB never crossed my mind, until that moment when his manager “liked” our photo. It made me wonder if manager/employee relationships are strengthened or hindered by the connection on FB or other social networking sites (or no impact at all). I am curious to hear back from individuals across all geographies. Please share your thoughts!