Comments on: Extending Situational Relationships With Social Media http://blog.networksolutions.com/2009/extending-situational-relationships-with-social-media/ Small Business tips, interviews and conversations that provide advice and discussion about small business. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:43:50 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: KWfromNJ:o http://blog.networksolutions.com/2009/extending-situational-relationships-with-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-3618 KWfromNJ:o Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:15:47 +0000 http://blog.networksolutions.com/?p=2363#comment-3618 Interesting timing, because I just befriended (did people forget we already have a word that means "to make friends with?") someone who might fit that category, but I'm on the employee end you're talking about. I work with some elderly & disabled folks, and one particular woman's daughter who always comes to visit asked if I was on Facebook. I always got along with her but my guard immediately went up, calculating what kind of answer I should give based on what kinds of things she might see about me. <br>"Yeah! Friend me!"<br>"Yeah, but I don't get on much" (lie)<br>"Yeah I set one up to find old classmates but I never use it" (bigger lie)<br>"Nah, I hate stuff like that" (going to hell)<br><br>I befriended her, and it turns out she's pretty cool. But being on the employee end of that I have to keep in mind that I could *possibly* put my job in jeopardy -- IF I did something wrong. Say, for EXAMPLE, I wrote to someone "That was a great party, I never smoked such a big doobie in my life! haha!" <br>If she didn't like me, and here I am helping take care of her mother, she just needs to go to my boss with that and bam, I'm being drug tested and fired. Now, drug use is an extreme example (it was an EXAMPLE), but having someone "like me less" for seeing me type the F word and take a quiz called "What kind of girl are you?" has crossed my mind and would be unfortunate, because I'm a good person and I get online to relax at night and unwind and maybe be silly. So they'd be seeing a very personal side of me, which may not be the best idea in business.<br><br>I wouldn't want to be on the other side either, unless I really didn't care about the person and they didn't touch my food. I don't want to know what my food-handlers do in their spare time. That could be detrimental to their business. Interesting timing, because I just befriended (did people forget we already have a word that means “to make friends with?”) someone who might fit that category, but I'm on the employee end you're talking about. I work with some elderly & disabled folks, and one particular woman's daughter who always comes to visit asked if I was on Facebook. I always got along with her but my guard immediately went up, calculating what kind of answer I should give based on what kinds of things she might see about me.
“Yeah! Friend me!”
“Yeah, but I don't get on much” (lie)
“Yeah I set one up to find old classmates but I never use it” (bigger lie)
“Nah, I hate stuff like that” (going to hell)

I befriended her, and it turns out she's pretty cool. But being on the employee end of that I have to keep in mind that I could *possibly* put my job in jeopardy — IF I did something wrong. Say, for EXAMPLE, I wrote to someone “That was a great party, I never smoked such a big doobie in my life! haha!”
If she didn't like me, and here I am helping take care of her mother, she just needs to go to my boss with that and bam, I'm being drug tested and fired. Now, drug use is an extreme example (it was an EXAMPLE), but having someone “like me less” for seeing me type the F word and take a quiz called “What kind of girl are you?” has crossed my mind and would be unfortunate, because I'm a good person and I get online to relax at night and unwind and maybe be silly. So they'd be seeing a very personal side of me, which may not be the best idea in business.

I wouldn't want to be on the other side either, unless I really didn't care about the person and they didn't touch my food. I don't want to know what my food-handlers do in their spare time. That could be detrimental to their business.

]]> By: Yvette Francino http://blog.networksolutions.com/2009/extending-situational-relationships-with-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-3617 Yvette Francino Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:47:45 +0000 http://blog.networksolutions.com/?p=2363#comment-3617 Interesting idea. Typically, I'm not really that interested in the status updates from people that I don't know "in real life." Blogs are more interesting because they can often expose deeper thoughts. However a lot of the chatter on Facebook and Twitter is kind of annoying to me. If I'm following someone I don't know, it's usually for business purposes and I'm not that interested in the non-business stuff. Interesting idea. Typically, I'm not really that interested in the status updates from people that I don't know “in real life.” Blogs are more interesting because they can often expose deeper thoughts. However a lot of the chatter on Facebook and Twitter is kind of annoying to me. If I'm following someone I don't know, it's usually for business purposes and I'm not that interested in the non-business stuff.

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