Should You Friend Your Employers on the Social Networks? « Hire Vine – Jobs for Thought Leaders

You just received a message from Facebook: Your boss wants to add you as a friend. What do you do? If you say yes he’ll be privy to a lot of personal stuff, but no one wants to say no to the boss.

How do you handle this sort of thing?

If you don’t invite your boss to family barbecues or parties with your friends, why would you invite him access to your Facebook account? There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to separate both personal and private lives. If your boss wants to follow you on a social network ignore the request. Hopefully it’ll pass. If he brings it up and asks why you haven’t friended him, politely explain that it’s nothing personal, but you prefer to keep your private life private.

You can’t get in trouble for not having an employer as a Facebook friend any more than you can get in trouble for not inviting him to dinner or out for drinks.

Don’t be afraid to draw the line.