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How to save 'face' online

Ref. PR-02124

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Hong Kong, 21 September, 2009 – The notoriously fine line of turning professional relationships into friendships has become even further blurred with the dawn of the Facebook era. Those who think of “befriending” their boss or subordinates on Facebook as a goodwill gesture may want to reconsider.  A recent survey conducted by Robert Half International reveals that nearly half of executives are uncomfortable receiving friend requests from either the employees they manage (48%) and by their own boss (47%).

“Keeping a distinct distance between your personal life and professional life is even harder now as more people use social networking websites for business purposes,” explained Andrew Morris, Director of Robert Half Hong Kong. “Although not everyone is comfortable using sites like Facebook to connect with professional contacts, it’s wise to be prepared for these types of requests.”

Morris advises employees on Facebook to familiarise themselves with privacy settings and create different friend lists to control how -- and with whom -- information is shared before having to deal with colleague friend requests. “Individuals should classify their professional contacts into a ‘work’ list and limit what personal details this group can view,” Morris explained. 

When it comes to uncomfortable Facebook-induced situations, here are some helpful tips on how to avoid them:

  • You’re tagged in an embarrassing photo or video. Sitting in a business meeting knowing that your boss saw you in your stag night photos or crooning along to Karaoke late on Saturday night is not going to earn you professional respect! If you are faced with a similar situation, “untag” yourself and change your privacy settings so photos are viewable only by your close friends.
  • You’re “befriended” by someone you don’t want to connect with. It might be best to accept friend requests from colleagues to avoid slighting them, but add them to a “work” list and adjust your privacy settings so you can effectively separate your job from your personal life.
  • You’re considering ‘befriending” your boss. It may seem like a natural extension of amiable office small talk, but think twice before proactively “befriending” your boss. It could become awkward for both of you.
  • You want to join various groups. A member of a political allegiance, a penchant for Hello Kitty, in love with Edison Chan? This might be so but do you really want your colleagues to know this information? If you don’t want certain facebook friends to see the groups you join, remember to adjust your application settings.
  • You would like to be a fan of certain pages. Becoming a fan of pages on Facebook is visible to anyone who can view your profile, so you should avoid becoming a fan of any page you are uncomfortable sharing with coworkers or business contacts in your network.
  • You love quizzes. Stop and think for a moment before taking online quizzes and posting the results to your Facebook page -- unless you want professional contacts to know which Sex and the City character you most resemble.
  • Timing is everything! Refrain from using Facebook during the working day. If you do log on at work, it will be very visible to your colleagues who may resent the fact you are not focused on your workload.

These situations are sure to continue as the use of Facebook and other social networking sites increases steadily in markets like Hong Kong and Asia.  “Facebook in Asia grew nearly 460%  in 2008,” Andrew Morris explains. “Hong Kong is among the top four countries experiencing that massive growth with an estimated one million users, so we can be fairly certain that Facebook will continue to permeate the workplace and both employees and employers will need to be prepared.”

-ENDS-

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