To not want to be Facebook friends with employees?

[Custardtarte]

Run my own business with a team of staff, who are great....but I need some privacy away from work. I know that social media is far from private but I do want to keep my own personal page for me, away from work. AIBU to ignore friend requests from employees? I would never post anything about the staff, it's more that I just want something just for me and friends

I don't have any colleagues on my SM. I just don't want to be involved in their dramas!

Absolutely not being unreasonable. You’re entitled to be private and have a non work life. You need to maintain some professional distance if you’re in charge. I’m a senior manager and don’t do any social media for this reason. They may well try to look you up though so make sure you’re privacy setting are robust

YANBU and I think your attitude is fairly standard actually. At my former place of work I became quite close friends with my boss but she always made it clear she didn't want to be friends with employees on social media and I always respected that - it makes perfect sense if you want to maintain some professional authority over people for them not to be party to your private life.

I think probably worth explaining if someone tries to friend you that its a policy as opposed to being something personal just to keep things as smooth as possible.

I know hardly anyone who has their colleagues/staff as FB friends. Just ignore the friend requests, OP. If anyone remarks on it you can always say it's nothing personal, just something you've never done.

I think that’s fine. If anyone ever asks why you haven’t accepted you can just say ‘oh I never use it’ or ‘I prefer to only have close friends and family on there’, just breezily but matter of factly.
It’s probably best to have them separate even if you don’t post about colleagues. Keep the two parts of your life in their own categories.

It's completely fine and you don't need to give any reason.

Block them so they can’t see you (once you know their social media name) and delete their requests. I refused to have my team on Facebook until I left the place, it’s just not appropriate, IMO.

I think I'll just mention that I'd rather keep FB to close friends and family, I don't post there often but work already creeps into my personal and family time as it is. Have already learned that mixing friends and work aren't entirely compatible!