Help! My boss friended me on Facebook

What are the rules to accepting or ignoring Facebook friend requests from your boss?

There are no "rules" per se. I use my personal profile as a business tool so I do friend clients, colleagues and prospects but I never post anything too personal. Most of my posts are business-related and occasionally I post a family photo or funny picture, but I am careful not to post anything politically-charged or re-share anything controversial. I have it set so that I must review any photo or post before it shows up on my timeline.

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If you don't want to accept the request, what's the best way to handle this at work?

If you stick with a policy that you don't friend anyone at all from work, simply explain to your boss -- in person -- that you saw their friend request but that you reserve your Facebook account for just close friends and family. You will also want to make sure you check the privacy settings on your profile. Facebook recently changed some of them.

What if you feel like you have to accept the request? Can you limit what certain people see?

Yes, you can get a bit creative with Facebook privacy settings. Configure them to "hide" posts from certain people so if you feel that you absolutely must friend people from work, you can exclude people from seeing it by clicking on the drop down arrow on the left of "post" and select "Don't share with these people or lists." There you can type in individuals or create a "list" of work folks and exclude them. But this takes a bit of forethought and it's not possible on a mobile device.

Any other things to consider on this topic?

Remember, what happens in Vegas lives on Facebook. If you friend anyone at work, you are risking that your co-workers will see things they perhaps shouldn't. 

Are you friends with your boss on Facebook? Please share in the comments section.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Magnus Manske