I was getting acquainted with a colleague from another department over daily chess games at night and one night I asked him if he has an account with the very popular (at this side of the world, at least) networking site 'Facebook.' To my surprise, and also not to my surprise, he answered 'no.' When probed further, he revealed that his boss is also on facebook, so he wasn't interested in opening an account.That got me thinking, what is the specific reason why my colleague do not want to associate himself with the boss in a casual setting outside of work. Aside from the fact that the boss is notorious in the department, I think the core of the reason is this: my colleague wants and needs his privacy.
Faced in a similar situation sometime back, I can relate to his choice. If my boss wanted to invite me to join his circle or friends, my personal details would be available for srutiny. My boss would be able to see my personal pictures of acting goofy with friends, or being online late at night when I have work the next day, or worse, my penned thoughts about work or about the boss! I would be put in a sticky situation of whether to add my boss or not.
If I choose to reject her invitation, I would be seen as rude and these feelings could transcend to the workplace, which I can gladly do without. If I choose to accept the invitation, I am opening up my personal life grudgingly. I could choose what kind of information I want online, but that wouldn't be fair because it wouldn't be my account anymore. I would be too conscious of what my boss thinks instead of using the account freely.
What is the solution for this? Honestly, I have none. I can only say it depends on the individual and his/her relationship with the boss. Having been in those shoes, I chose to accept my boss' invitation. Afterall, the same reasons why I would not want to do that could be applied in my boss' situation. I could be the one... looking at my boss' personal pictures and information. And that doesn't seem like a bad idea.
Reference source:
http://www.facebook.com/
Image source:
http://shabot6000.com/blog/uploaded_images/2007/facebook/facebook_logo.gif
http://www.zetetica.net/AngryBoss.jpg
