A few nights ago I logged onto facebook, you have been invited to become a fan of this group: I thought "Who the hell made my small company a page," Then I saw my company took the plunge into social networking on the largest social networking site - Oh crap. I had an invite from 2 coworkers, my boss and his boss. Already, thats sort of hard to turn down. I click yes and I am now associated with my company in the virtual world.

 

 

 

Long ago I used social networking strictly for people I knew from school. be it high school, elementary or Uni, I never added close friends from runescape, some of which I've known much longer and talk to on the phone, Yet finally I added runescape people. For awhile I was scared of mixing online socialism with Real socialism, but once I did, I discovered it really wasn't a big deal.

 

 

 

What about work with your social experience online - how long until someone in your region explores your work profile page and finds out you work for company X - Can you complain about work online and it not be held agaisnt you? Do you think companies belong online?

 

 

 

 

 

Post your thoughts about how YOU feel about companies - maybe your own - invading facebook and associating you - with them virtually.

Fine with me, I don't use any social networking sites and never will.

I feel like because social networking has become so popular that its just something we have to learn to put up with. I have teachers/ ASU faculty asked to be my friends on facebook and I also got put into that situation where you can't really reject their request when you have to see them on a regular bases. With facebook though, you can set your privacy so they can't see certain things on your profile which is nice when you have pictures and information you don't want everyone to see.

It would be pretty weird looking through pictures of my boss' family and vacations, and probably weirder knowing he is doing the same. I guess companies use social networking to find out who you really are, which is pretty stupid to me. Some people even untag/remove pictures of themselves drinking or smoking because they KNOW their boss looks through their photos, again very weird and creepy.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if my boss has a facebook account, but there's no way i'll accept his friend request even though i'm on good terms with him, for the same reasons why I don't have my mom as a friend on facebook. I don't need an e-mom looking over me, i'm a full grown e-man.

Companies that place professionalism as a priority will either not dive into their worker's social lives, or if they do they won't hold anything against them provided the employee remains professional while at work.

 

 

 

Considering my high school created fake accounts in an attempt to spy on the students so they could see who was doing what (they were planning on handing out punishments too), I have no problem saying that my high school was very unprofessional. Not only were they unprofessional, they were also extremely stupid....My high school had 66, yes 66, students in all of grades 9-12 and they honestly expected us not to realize there wasn't a Bob Johnson (I forget the name) that attended our school?

I would never be friends with my co-workers on facebook, or my boss. For one thing, I believe that keeping your social life and your work life completely separated is essential for a good work environment. Second, my views are so damn radical that I could see myself getting fired from my job, or randomly drug tested. Not that I do any hardcore drugs, but I am a pot head, and I enjoy it in the privacy of my own home (completely away from work, and only on the weekend). Even if I didn't, I don't like my civil liberties being intruded on through drug testing.

 

 

 

I'd really rather not be blackmailed, either.

 

 

 

It's just simply a bad idea to mix work and social life.

I frankly have never used a social networking site, and I don't see my self ever going to. I'm rather suspicious[ly alert] about these sites. Read an article that your entire life can be documented from several detailed introspections of these sites. And basing my paranoid theorys on two degrees of seperation from a Danish Forensic Computer Scientist, " It is quite simple to track down your identity from a single photo".

 

 

 

Expanding and staying on topic, I'd rather not mix my occupation with my friends, again as Madmanpur3 mentioned its quite awkward to let these two mix.

 

 

 

So I generally tend to stay away. Nothing wrong with posting on these forums though. Unless you get too specific. Actually I quite like forums, I believe our Senior Year has setup a web community where you can discuss assesments, etc...

I don't mind joining their group but I would never allow any of them access to my personal page. My work life and home life are completely separate and always will be. If I went out to get [cabbage] faced on a Saturday night, it's not my boss's prognosis to know.

Its fine in terms of Friendship and whatnot, but sadly Companies and even the Government (In Australia Anyway) are using Facebook/Myspace to see who the people their employing realy are. Do you have a gloomy Bulletin/Blog Entry? Kiss your job goodbye. Feels like an Invasion of Privacy to me and hopefully they dont look at mine (The picture makes me look 14-15 :| )

Hopefully I'll never work for a business that "requires" constant connection, whether that be through some Blackberryesque device or Facebook. When I'm not working, I'm not working and I won't let some company try to keep me connected. I probably won't work for a traditional business anyways (probably the government), so I'm not too worried.

 

 

 

A separate but related point, people work too much. We need to check our e-mail less, file less, work less. We need to enjoy life more and not worry so much.

I dislike the whole concept of social networking. People barely have anything to say face to face as it is, it seems silly to further dilute it by posting messages on your friend's page.

I dislike the whole concept of social networking. People barely have anything to say face to face as it is, it seems silly to further dilute it by posting messages on your friend's page.

 

Even if that dilution involves keeping in contact with people living far away?

I dislike the whole concept of social networking. People barely have anything to say face to face as it is, it seems silly to further dilute it by posting messages on your friend's page.

 

Even if that dilution involves keeping in contact with people living far away?

 

 

 

Right there is the key reason why I still have myspace. I'm grew up in Washington, and now current go to school in Arizona so keeping in contact with friends back home is much easier with facebook and myspace. Otherwise I'd probably lose contact of most of the people I still talk to back home. I feel that people just need to learn how to balance their "real" life's with their virtual life's and most certainly not having their virtual life's be their dominate social interaction.

I dislike the whole concept of social networking. People barely have anything to say face to face as it is, it seems silly to further dilute it by posting messages on your friend's page.

 

Even if that dilution involves keeping in contact with people living far away?

 

 

 

If there's no face to face contact then there's no dilution at all. If you want to keep in touch with your friends who are far away then that's cool, but I bet most of the activity on sites like facebook and such is between people less than 10 miles from each other.

My parents recently got facebooks and invited me to be their friends. At first, I was hesitant, because I felt that this would be another way for them to control my life. But after much prodding from my mother, I accepted her and my father's invites. Now I am friends with my parents, three aunts, and three uncles. It really doesn't bother me as I don't have much to hide, but it's still creepy when my mom comments on my status that read, "has a big test tomorrow and really doesn't care." by saying, "Why are we paying $10,000 in tuition for you to not care?"

 

 

 

It's even more creepy when you go into the living room and your dad comments on how funny the video was that you posted on your facebook and that he showed it to all his co-workers and they all got a kick out of it.

 

 

 

But on the other hand, they probably would have been mad if I had ignored their invites. Oh, well.

 

 

 

 

 

As for companies, I wouldn't know. I currently only work during the summer for my family's business.

My parents recently got facebooks and invited me to be their friends. At first, I was hesitant, because I felt that this would be another way for them to control my life. But after much prodding from my mother, I accepted her and my father's invites. Now I am friends with my parents, three aunts, and three uncles. It really doesn't bother me as I don't have much to hide, but it's still creepy when my mom comments on my status that read, "has a big test tomorrow and really doesn't care." by saying, "Why are we paying $10,000 in tuition for you to not care?"

 

 

 

It's even more creepy when you go into the living room and your dad comments on how funny the video was that you posted on your facebook and that he showed it to all his co-workers and they all got a kick out of it.

 

 

 

But on the other hand, they probably would have been mad if I had ignored their invites. Oh, well.

 

 

 

 

 

As for companies, I wouldn't know. I currently only work during the summer for my family's business.

 

Heh. My parents both requested to be my friend on fb, but I just ignored them.

I dislike the whole concept of social networking. People barely have anything to say face to face as it is, it seems silly to further dilute it by posting messages on your friend's page.

 

Even if that dilution involves keeping in contact with people living far away?

 

 

 

If there's no face to face contact then there's no dilution at all. If you want to keep in touch with your friends who are far away then that's cool, but I bet most of the activity on sites like facebook and such is between people less than 10 miles from each other.

 

Ah, I see. In that case, I 100% agree.

I find social networking a great way to have lists of people that you've come in contact with. I keep a list of my friends' contact information (phone numbers, emails, etc) for the future. You never know if you need a place to stay, or if they know of a job opening. Networking is quite possibly the best way of getting a job or something along those lines.

 

Can you complain about work online and it not be held against you?

 

 

 

 

Yes, Facebook is public - it's the same as putting up a poster on a notice board saying that you hate your work and then signing your name on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do not have a problem integrating social networking and work. Partly because I'm not someone who goes out getting drunk or taking drugs, so I don't have some kind of secret home life that I need to hide. I also don't expect that a social network is a private conversation between friends, so I only post things that I would like an acquaintance of me to know. It's a cross between an advertising board for me as a brand, and a way of keeping up with what other people I know are doing.

 

 

 

As an example, I am a student landlord and each year I get new tenants to live with me. Apart from getting a recommendation from the previous tenants, the new potential tenants can (and do) also look at my Facebook profile to see that I have friends and am a normal person...

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I think that work should be enjoyable, so it makes me sad when I hear of people who want to just get home and pretend that what they did between 9am and 5pm never happened. Don't wish your life away watching the clock :thumbdown:

I would never be friends with my co-workers on facebook, or my boss. For one thing, I believe that keeping your social life and your work life completely separated is essential for a good work environment. Second, my views are so damn radical that I could see myself getting fired from my job, or randomly drug tested. Not that I do any hardcore drugs, but I am a pot head, and I enjoy it in the privacy of my own home (completely away from work, and only on the weekend). Even if I didn't, I don't like my civil liberties being intruded on through drug testing.

 

 

 

I'd really rather not be blackmailed, either.

 

 

 

It's just simply a bad idea to mix work and social life.

 

 

 

 

 

I agree. Social networking sites serve no true purpose other than creating drama or just trouble in general. It can be easy to offend someone by your status or whatever. The spam received from the apps (especially the requests) are annoying. There are also scam ads on Facebook, such as "make $150 an hour" type scams. Besides, who wants to be blackmailed through Facebook?

 

 

 

Lesson learned: Delete your facebook/never sign up. Use the phone or email instead.

 

Can you complain about work online and it not be held against you?

 

 

 

 

Yes, Facebook is public - it's the same as putting up a poster on a notice board saying that you hate your work and then signing your name on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do not have a problem integrating social networking and work. Partly because I'm not someone who goes out getting drunk or taking drugs, so I don't have some kind of secret home life that I need to hide. I also don't expect that a social network is a private conversation between friends, so I only post things that I would like an acquaintance of me to know. It's a cross between an advertising board for me as a brand, and a way of keeping up with what other people I know are doing.

 

 

 

As an example, I am a student landlord and each year I get new tenants to live with me. Apart from getting a recommendation from the previous tenants, the new potential tenants can (and do) also look at my Facebook profile to see that I have friends and am a normal person...

 

 

 

Adding to previous:

 

 

 

A college representative came to my school recently to talk about applying to colleges. He mentioned that last year alone they rejected 4-5 people solely on their facebook and myspace pages. So yes, things posted on your facebook/myspace can and will be held against you.

 

Can you complain about work online and it not be held against you?

 

 

 

 

Yes, Facebook is public - it's the same as putting up a poster on a notice board saying that you hate your work and then signing your name on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do not have a problem integrating social networking and work. Partly because I'm not someone who goes out getting drunk or taking drugs, so I don't have some kind of secret home life that I need to hide. I also don't expect that a social network is a private conversation between friends, so I only post things that I would like an acquaintance of me to know. It's a cross between an advertising board for me as a brand, and a way of keeping up with what other people I know are doing.

 

 

 

As an example, I am a student landlord and each year I get new tenants to live with me. Apart from getting a recommendation from the previous tenants, the new potential tenants can (and do) also look at my Facebook profile to see that I have friends and am a normal person...

 

 

 

Adding to previous:

 

 

 

A college representative came to my school recently to talk about applying to colleges. He mentioned that last year alone they rejected 4-5 people solely on their facebook and myspace pages. So yes, things posted on your facebook/myspace can and will be held against you.

 

 

 

I heard the same thing, three years ago when I was still a senior in high school. You just have to be smart about what you put up for people to see, and have your privacy settings set correctly.

What I notice what people seem to forget, is that all their "friends" and people being "added" are actually other human beings. We kinda stick to the fact that "Nick_6464" is a series of pixels that is not the same as a real life human being.

 

 

 

We do it subconsciously because we're not seeing a human face to face. Its nothing bad, but I don't like it when people are so determined to separate their "online" life with their "real" life.

What I notice what people seem to forget, is that all their "friends" and people being "added" are actually other human beings. We kinda stick to the fact that "Nick_6464" is a series of pixels that is not the same as a real life human being.

 

 

 

We do it subconsciously because we're not seeing a human face to face. Its nothing bad, but I don't like it when people are so determined to separate their "online" life with their "real" life.

 

 

 

Its peoples online false identities that worries people.

Anyone see that link where a guy changed his status on Facebook to "(cantrememberhisnamebutletscallhimDave) has a hangover - no way I'm working today" or something?

 

So he took a sickie and the boss challenged it, the guy denied doing anything wrong and then an email came back with a screenshot of his Facebook page

 

Owned, haha. How stupid do you have to be... :wall: