Adding Your Boss As A Friend

The social networking site Facebook was originally targeted to college students, but since it's opened its doors to anyone, the question of what's appropriate to post on your profile has gotten complicated.

Since I'm friends with eight co-workers on the site and have played Scrabulous with the NHPR program director, I know that the personal-professional line is rather blurry. Someone I know who was just recently hired to work on a Congressional race received a friend request from the candidate herself. He immediately scoured his profile for anything that could be perceived as off-color.

In an article for the Boston Globe, reporter Johnny Diaz points to "a sticky etiquette issue that is becoming more common: What if your boss wants to be your buddy?" This isn't an entirely new dilemma, but with Facebook's growing popularity, now at 70 million users, it's something a lot more people are facing. The company responded last month by introducing different levels of access for close friends or for co-workers.

Have you had to clean up your act after becoming online friends with your boss? Or did you just deny the request? Leave comments below.

(Thanks to producer Sean Cole for the tip. Photo by Bev Sykes)