WWYD: Facebook friends

inluv4life2

I work in local government and am pretty well-known in the town where I work due to the nature of my job and interactions I have with the business community. Today is my last day of work and I've received a handful of Facebook friend requests from community members in the last few days. I'm assuming they want baby updates/pictures and know that I won't be sending this out via work networks as it really isn't appropriate. Of course, my boss will send an announcement out to our staff but not to my business connections. Anyway, should I accept the friend requests, ignore or do something in the middle like create some sort of filter for posting? I am leaning towards the filter but then I have to remember to select it when I post stuff. Seems annoying.

I can't decide what to do. I like all the folks who've tried to friend me but I'm not sure I want work contacts seeing my Facebook posts. I will say I'm pretty low key on Facebook and really use it mostly to keep up with my family (all of which live in another state) so it's not like I post very controversial topics. I asked my boss and he said I could do whatever I want - there's no policy about this at work.

Any advice or thoughts to share? Anyone else a "public official" and dealing with something similar?

Thanks!

iwubrory

I wouldn't accept the friend requests. I regularly get requests from parents and students but I always decline. No exceptions no matter how much I like the parent. I just don't want to have to worry about censoring what I post on my fb.

inluv4life2

Thanks for answering, ladies. I appreciate your points of view! Hmm still thinking on this.

JackieP1023

I work in local government, and have only a few 'co-workers' as friends on FB. Since I'm in an internal department, I don't have any outside of work acquaintances. That being said, I also am not a huge FB user-I lurk a lot, but don't usually post a bunch. I think if I were in your position, I would add people, but use the different settings to where you can post things for all to see, but keep other things to just family.

Noethola

When I got pregnant the first time, I deleted over half of my "friends" because they were people I rarely kept up with and honestly decided I did not want them to see the intimate details of my family life. 

While not a public official, I keep hard and fast rules about who I accept on FB. If they are not friends in the real world, they do not get accepted. I use other social sites for networking, so there is really no reason in my book. But that's just me. :-) If there are no official rules, you get to make your own!

shellbell3845

You might consider a professional Facebook page in addition to your personal page. That way you could share what you'd like with people you need to have a professional relationship with but you could still have your personal page where you could post whatever and not have to worry. I know quite a few teachers who do that.

kittieluvz

shellbell3845 said:

You might consider a professional Facebook page in addition to your personal page. That way you could share what you'd like with people you need to have a professional relationship with but you could still have your personal page where you could post whatever and not have to worry. I know quite a few teachers who do that.

This. Down here we have a lot of festivals and cultural groups that participate in the "Royalty" part of the festivals. Two of my cousins have been "Royalty" before and both set up a new page to friend all of the other royalty and professional friends and acquaintances. I think that may be a good option for you as well.

MissDemeanor

Ever since my MIL sent me a request and I couldn't think of how to turn it down I've been FB screwed anyway.

I agree with pp that a professional one might be best?

Dexter&11

MissDemeanor said:

Ever since my MIL sent me a request and I couldn't think of how to turn it down I've been FB screwed anyway.

I agree with pp that a professional one might be best?

I had an old client send me a friend request....I accepted then deleted him about 2 days later That way he saw the acceptance, but now thinks I don't use FB anymore as I'm "never active" He stalks me on Skype now instead, but as he knows I use this for work communications he can't whinge when I say I'm too busy to chat