Following colleagues on social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram specifically) is for me, an interesting debate and something I have been keen to get some opinions about.
I don’t think there is a clear yes/no answer as it depends on the platform and the culture at your place of work, and are you connecting while you work together, or afterwards when one or both of you have left that employer?
There is a difference between being ‘friends’ for the sake of pleasantries in the office, and having genuine friendships that begin and extend out of the workplace and social media bridges both of these.
This debate has also been an interesting one for me since I was made redundant. The few connections with colleagues I had at my last place of work, not one has reached out.
Following colleagues on social media is problematic
Office politics is hard to navigate at the best of times and it’s natural to want to connect with colleagues from your immediate team and/or departments. But it can be problematic.
Sometimes you find yourself following colleagues on social media and accepting requests because you want to be friendly, and if other colleagues are friends with each other why shouldn’t you be too?
At a company I worked for a few years ago it was the done thing to have all your colleagues on Facebook. But I haven’t had that replicated anywhere since in the same way.
You don’t have to be best pals to connect with colleagues on social media, but it can often be how common interests are discovered that wouldn’t otherwise have become known.
LinkedIn can be a confusing social platform, it’s intention is professional but sometimes users try to use it more casually like Facebook. When I discus social media I don’t automatically include this as a channel.
LinkedIn is the most obvious place to connect with colleagues but it’s one of the first places you’re going to reach out to your network when seeking a new opportunity, which is a struggle if you do not want current colleagues to notice.
Freedom of speech: do’s and don’ts
Sometimes you just need a bloody good rant and social media is a great outlay for this, because you can punch out a tweet or caption on Instagram and send it out into the universe along with any stresses. Writing for me is a great therapy.
But, you need to be careful. Even if you don’t have any colleagues following you on social media, you can be sure as hell something you have said will be picked up.
Once you have colleagues popping up in your social feeds, I just feel there’s a new mindfulness about what you might post, knowing it’ll likely be seen. Usually this is absolutely nothing to worry about, but it blurs that divide between home and the workplace.
So quite rightly there are some rules you should try to follow, and these are the definite dont’s:
- Name names
- Be rude
- Use nasty language; there are ways to be critical and air frustrations without being mean or out of order.
- And absolutely don’t say anything that can be directly linked to an individual or an employer however subtle you might think you are being.
I completely agree that how you use social media can impact you as an employee, so everyone needs to be mindful about what they share, where they share it, and what they say. As a rule, generally leave any work upset offline and try to address it directly with your colleague(s) and/or manager.
But sometimes you will find yourself responding to something that has triggered you in some way and touches a nerve. We’ve all done it and we are all human, but just be mindful that it may get picked up by colleagues.
Reader Poll
I ran a couple of polls on my Twitter and Instagram recently to ask if you follow colleagues/allow colleagues to follow you, and another poll to ask should colleagues connect on social media. The results have been collated and are as follows:
Poll 1: Do you follow colleagues/allow colleagues to follow you?
From some of the responses I collected the answer is essentially yes, that people do follow colleagues and allow colleagues to follow them on social media.
Bosses however was a strict no.
Some people said they didn’t mind at all because they don’t particularly share or do much on their social channels for this to affect things, but being friends was a key criteria to accepting connections from colleagues and some restricted access to certain content based on that criteria.
Poll 2: Should colleagues connect on social media?
Again responses included many people having colleagues as friends and so connecting via social media was a given, but any talk about work was frowned upon and anyone seen to be connecting purely to talk about current projects and things was swiftly ended.
Following colleagues on social media: A summary
I guess it’s entirely up to you and the type of relationships you have with the people you work with as to whether you think you should or should not follow colleagues.
I think the line between work and home, friends and colleagues has definitely blurred in recent years and I think it’s lovely that for many people, myself included, some colleagues are considered and become friends.
But as I mentioned earlier, those connections are questioned when in times of need or celebration, those colleagues suddenly become very silent.
What do you think? I would love to get some more perspective on this debate.
Until next time x
