I recently got a Facebook friend request from an ex-boyfriend and this made me wonder…

Things didn’t end well, I hadn’t spoken to him for about 6 years and we both avoid attending events if we know the other person will be there. I think, it is pretty safe to say that we are not friends. Where does this phenomenon come from that people feel that, although they would not like to spend any time with someone face to face, it would be perfectly normal to follow their every day activities through Facebook, MySpace and Bebo?

I’ve also heard of incidences where bosses or HR managers were questioning employees as to why they didn’t accept their Facebook invitations or dared to put them only on a limited profile. Does this really mean that we now live in a society where nothing can be “private” anymore? I am very aware of this, as I carefully think of what I tweet about on my Twitter account http://twitter.com/felicitasbetzl , which is public. I am also on LinkedIn and Xing and both profiles are public. Is that not enough for my professional network to be satisfied with?

I also hate company Flickr accounts, where all of a sudden pictures of yourself appear from a Christmas party, which you would have never even shared with your friends. Businesses make certainly good use of social media platforms but I think they should also take into account that some people may not be as “open” to sharing everything, even if it is just a picture of yourself with a doublechin. Those pictures should reflect a company’s image and those accounts should be looked after carefully.

The bottom line here is really that I think there is a great need to define where the line requires to be drawn. Especially young web companies should look “fun” but the wrong pictures can put maybe some serious clients off right from the start.

written by Feli \\ tags: facebook, flickr, Social Media, twitter