To ignore social media requests from work contacts?

[Lizzie523]

I am feeling fed up lately because it is harder and harder for me to maintain boundaries between my social and professional life.

When I started my job I was very surprised when my bosses added me on 2 social media platforms. I was a bit annoyed but felt I had to accept when I saw they had all my other colleagues on it and it was early days.

However I have a third platform i use for family and friends only. Now my bosses have requested to follow me there as well and I have also had 2 clients do the same.

AIBU to decline them all?

YANBU. Ignore them and stop worrying about it.

I wonder if your work has a social media policy? Many companies do.

If they push you about it you could ask what the policy is.

When I started my job some of my colleagues said the manager had added them on social media and they felt obliged to accept it.
I blocked him on my 1st day so there was no way he could and I only added some colleagues after we had got friendly.
There's no need to have anybody on there that you don't want/feel comfortable with.

I add no one outside of my closest circle. I just ignore the requests. No one really questioned it yet and if they would I would simply say that it's only family and few friends. If anyone.thrpws a fit, they are a moron.

And this is why my sm are a very nice place to be on😁

@ekidmxcl

I have to say I don’t understand this.

What is your objective when posting on Twitter? It exists to publicise stuff. As a private person, why do you publicise stuff?

Social media is one of the very worst advances in technology.

Well I post, for example, "Please help! What kind of caterpillar is this?" or "Butterly count is on! @bigbutterflycount" with pics of the insects in question😂 There are amazing profiles with swallows and housemartins and you can share your pics with them too. Everyone gets excited about nesting swallows 😁

I think you have the right idea.

I would never give access to my social media accounts to any of my colleagues. Only to those who became friends, usually after I left work.

I also absolutely refuse to get involved in work WhatsApp groups that are often used for social things as well as just work news, unless work provides me with a mobile phone.

LinkedIn is the only place I think is suitable for work colleagues by definition.

I suppose it depends on your workplace and it has clearly annoyed you.
I have all our team on FB including managers.
It's a friendly place and we socialise out of work as well.

What is your objective when posting on Twitter? It exists to publicise stuff. As a private person, why do you publicise stuff?

it's a great way to do things collectively, so watch Strictly/Bake Off etc
or football - it's a brilliant way to slag off refs with way more people than those sitting around you in the stadium, for eg, or discuss how crap they are at using VAR

or asking questions and getting sometimes good answers and sometimes plain bonkers replies

sometimes it is fantastic at getting help from, say, Microsoft or getting a complaint to a company expedited when you can't reach them any other way

hashtag games

or just gloriously shouting into the void

it's the internet - YMMV

If you’ve already added them on 2 SM platforms then I’m not surprised they’ve tried to add you to a third.
You need to sort out what your boundaries are and stick to them

Just delete them OP. Set some boundaries. And use a fake name on FB if you have to. I do and no one knows unless I tell them!

Don't ad. I wouldn't unfriend. But I wouldn't accept for the one you only use for family/friends. If they mention it you can say you don't use the account anymore - just make sure it's private!

My approach is that I tend not to do it with current work colleagues but I'm happy to do it they are genuine friends (as opposed to just colleagues) after either they or I have left.

Some former colleagues have gone on to become really good friends over the years so I don't think there's a hard line between work and private life and I wouldn't exclude people purely on the basis that we've worked together. But I just think its sensible not to have your colleagues on Facebook for obvious reasons.

This is why I preemptively block them all.

In this case, I'd say if asked that I have deactivated the accounts, but only if they asked about it personally; a friend request alone would be declined and they'd be blocked without a second thought.

Friends and family only on my fab site. Absolutely no random work colleagues. Revisit your security settings and beef them up. Bloody cheeky to expect you to open your personal life up to work

The funny thing is I do use a fake name. I sometimes engage with the company's profile so that is how they found me.

Ok I am going to ignore the invites. It is a bit awkward I suppose but I simply dont want my superiors on all my personal profiles.

A colleague/friend messaged me today saying the same client had added her too and she didnt want to accept. So not just me!

I don’t add work people to my social media (except on LinkedIn). On the few occasions colleagues/bosses have tried to add me I’ve declined and later said in person ‘oh I saw you requested me on fb earlier, sorry I only add family/friends and don’t use it much!’ but in a very casual/breezy way. It’s never been an issue.

I also have restricted twitter and Instagram so you can’t ‘find’ me via contacts/my mobile/email etc and don’t use my full name on them.

I refuse to have work colleagues linked via social media too. There's only one I've added and that was after she left and we wanted to keep in touch. I prefer to keep things separate.