Facebook: 5 people never to friend from work

Toby Talbot

How many co-workers are you connected to on Facebook? A new survey by Millennial Branding found that the average Gen Y employee is connected to 16 office-mates on the popular social networking site. The interesting part? Only 36 percent officially listed their place of employment, while 80 percent noted where they had gone to school. So while this group appears to be trying to keep their personal and professional worlds separate, they're still merging them by connecting to colleagues.

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There are a slew of ways that Facebook can get you fired, and connecting to the wrong people in your office is one of the easiest ones. Here are five people you should never friend:

Your boss

Friending your boss on Facebook might seem like a good way to get close to your manager, but in this case it may be too close for comfort. "If you friend your boss on Facebook, and then complain about them or share something too personal, they might lose trust in you, not take you seriously and potentially replace you," notes branding expert Dan Schawbel, CEO of Millennial Branding.

Your HR rep

Friending your human resources representative comes with many of the same issues as friending your boss. "If you friend your HR representative on Facebook, and then reveal a company secret or criticize your boss, then they will have more than enough reason to report you to your manager," says Schawbel.

Your office "frenemy"

If you have a less-than-friendly office competitor, don't take the "keep your friends close and enemies closer" approach via Facebook. "Schadenfreude, envy, competitive juices and just plain score-keeping is a terrific reason for keeping frenemies out of your life and your FB commentary," says Ellen Lubin-Sherman, author of The Essentials of Fabulous: Because Whatever Doesn't Work Here Anymore. Someone who doesn't have your best interests at heart face-to-face will jump at any opportunity to find a skeleton online and bring it out of your closet.

A previous boss

If you leave a company on great terms with your boss, by all means, stay in touch -- on Linkedin, suggests David Couper, career coach and author of Outsider On The Inside: How To Create A Winning Career...Even When You Don't Fit In!. If you want to reconnect for professional reasons (for a reference or new job, for example) you'll be glad you kept the two zones of your life -- professional and personal -- absolutely separated.

Anyone you manage

You maintain a certain image in the office, and it's almost impossible to perfectly maintain that same image online, even with strict settings. "Again, you may disclose information that could be damaging. For example, if you show a picture of you enjoying the sights on a 'business trip' you may lose credibility with your team," says Couper.

[HRPuffinstuff]

Why the heck are all you people on Facebook in the first place? I tried it for awhile, till someone I barely remembered posted a 20 year old photo of me on MY Facebook page. Scary! Turns out, despite making everything private, Facebook makes everything public again whenever they do an update, which can be once or twice a week.

Deleted the account, although I understand that everything that was on there will stay in Facebook forever anyway.

[bobnjersey]

["If you friend your boss on Facebook, and then complain about them or share something too personal, they might lose trust in you, not take you seriously and potentially replace you,"]
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yea ... but what about twitter ... can i use twitter to complain about everyone around me?

they'll still take me seriously even though i summarize all my thoughts down to 142 characters ... right?

[Resin-Smoker]

Farce-Book is a waste of time, unless of coarse you enjoy giving away your information and have no problem with someone using the sites content against you.

[fleetbar]

How about "don't say stupid things on the internet" ?

There is only one (1) internet. Everything posted to it stays forever, because the internet does not have a 'delete' button.

[cedaly1968]

I worked for a guy who was president of the company and he "friended" half the company on his Facebook page. When he broke up with his boyfriend, he proceeded to carry out the spat on Facebook, in front of every single person in the office. The rumor mill was on fire and there was no spinning it other than, "He's a person and he has real people issues too." Most folks didn't care, they don't expect to see that kind of behavior from their leaders because it translates into how they make decisions in the office because they are "emotional" or "pissed off" because of what is happening in their personal lives. I disagree with friending prior bosses, it really depends on if you think you might go back and whether or not you actually are friends.

[BlogZilla]

Whoever mentioned that this article seems to be aimed at the workplace noob, seemed to "hit the nail on the head". Whatever happened to common sense? I would NOT befriend any of my work place friends on Facebook, simply because most of the people you work with are NOT your friends, and even if they are, they won't hesitate for a second to stab you in the back.

[chrisbedford100]

The articles on this website do seem to be aimed pretty much at the workplace noob, don't they. All basic common sense and the stuff that those who have been around for a couple of rotations of the planet don't even think about any more. Take this one: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505144_162-57351554/financial-self-control-3-tricks-for-the-new-year/?tag=nl.e713 all pretty obvious stuff, one would think.

I came to this site because I previously was a reader of BNet (which merged here a couple of months back), where the information was at least a bit more fresh and relevant. I'm finding CBS a lot less interesting and more dumbed down than I would have believed possible.

And they keep highlighting old articles, like below this one I still see "New rules on dressing for success" (Nov 8) (more obvious advice), "What NOT to buy at Costco" (Nov 17) and "Will these 10 jobs disappear in 2012" (Dec 15).

[plynns]

Couldn't agree more - BNet was great, this site is decidedly mediocre. I think I'm going to 'unsubscribe' - what used to be useful information has become a waste of time - the only redeeming feature is the still fabulous Evil HR Lady

[billmichael]

I deleted my Facebook account in December. I lived without it before, I can live without it now.

[jethrogibbs2]

Good study, great article. I'm in the 36% that doesn't disclose my employment information and in the 80% that does disclose my education. It can only do harm to your career to get to connected in social networking with bosses and most coworkers. Especially with Facebook, when a friend can easily post an embarrassing or unwanted comment/picture on your wall. If you want to be friends with your coworkers do so outside the confines of Facebook. Thats what happy hour is for.

[MarilynC100]

I couldn't disagree more. If you're in the habit of complaining about your boss or spilling company secrets, you need to get rid of your Facebook account altogether. Because there is nothing secret at Facebook. Go ahead and friend anybody you're concerned about offending if you think that's the only impetus you have to use common sense in what you post on line. Maybe imagining your boss reading your status will keep you from being an idiot.

Or maybe not.