Morality of duel wielding Facebook.

[madd0ct0r]

Like many of my friends who were in the early wave of Facebook, I have two accounts. One is my young professional account that recruiters find and people at work friend me on. The other is my original account that was easier to change the name for then figure out the privacy setting of all thousand photos associated with it. It has all my old friends on, and a bunch of stuff in the news feed I do not need to be accidentally seen at work. Around graduation a bunch of us got together, created parallel accounts and had them friend each other.

The thing is, a lot of the work friends who are adding me do so to their genuine account. I use both accounts a lot, and I feel marginally uneasy about the information assymetry. I can imagine people being a bit hurt if they found out. Is it ethically/morally dubious?

[Elheru Aran]

I don't have a huge issue with two separate accounts for your personal and 'work' lives. If you have a work friend who becomes close enough that you consider them a 'personal' friend, send them a PM that you have a personal FB account if they want to be added to it. If they ask why the separate accounts, explain in short and sweet terms ("this account I made a long time ago when I was in school, it's not very professional, my work account is a little safer along those lines" whatever). If it offends them that you have two accounts... well that's not your problem. Now if your work found out that you have a separate account and it became an issue, then that would be a different matter on a professional level.

It's a bit of a odd thing because Facebook doesn't allow more than one account per person now (in theory). In practice as long as you can knock off a bunch of emails you can make a bunch of different accounts, but they get pissy about it if they find out. But that was kosher back in the day. So you can use the "it was grandfathered in" excuse, maybe. Your coworkers may not have that excuse as they may not have created their FB accounts until after that point, so there's no real separation between 'work' and 'personal' on their accounts.

This is all IMO though. More professional people than me may have a different opinion.

[Iroscato]

It's your Facebook, therefore I personally see it as entirely under your jurisdiction. Anyone who would be miffed or put out by a polite explanation probably isn't worth bothering about. But I am drunk, so terms and conditions apply towhatver I sasy.

[biostem]

In a world where people will try and dox you just because you disagree with them and/or try to rat you out to your employer, I see no problem with taking extensive measures to protect yourself.

Until such time as laws are put in place to protect people from the aforementioned types of attacks, you *should* do whatever you feel is necessary to protect yourself and your livelihood.

[Terralthra]

I also have two FB accounts, professional and personal. If there's a coworker I particularly trust, I may add them to the personal one, but those are few/far between.

[Tribble]

I just use facebook as a glorified MSN messenger - no posts on my wall or other people's walls, no likes, no pictures etc. If I want to talk to someone, I just use the chat function or email them directly. Quite frankly I'd rather not use Facebook at all, but since most of the people I know use it for communication I'm kind of stuck at the moment.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I didn't realize it was so common for people to have two accounts. It's never come up as an issue for me. My account is set to private so only my friends can see it, and if I end up friends with certain people who I don't want to see everything I just add them to a "restricted" list (easily customizable in Facebook settings) that can only see a small portion of my profile (like, just my profile picture, basic information, and a handle of public posts on my newsfeed).

[Soontir C'boath]

Nothing wrong with two accounts even with FB being a bitchy little China about it. I'm on the same line with Ziggy though I just put them in "acquaintance". Ha.

[Lord Revan]

I would see it the same way some people have different phones for work and personal use or different e-mails. After there's things you might not want in your work related page even if you're not trying to hide those things simply because you need to focus on work and news about a game you've been waiting would be distracting even if you don't make the fact you're waiting for that game a secret in and of itself (for example).

That said I don't use Facebook or Twitter at all (I don't even have an account at either).

[Zeropoint]

The only reason I have a Facebook account at all is so I can use Tinder. I don't intend to ever do anything with it.

[K. A. Pital]

I expected the thread to be about the morality of wielding duels...

[bilateralrope]

Having two accounts and keeping the work one strictly work related is going to be a lot easier than adjusting the privacy settings so that stuff your work doesn't want linked with them stays private.

[Lagmonster]

Here's my system for dealing with Facebook: I genuinely assume that every single Facebook page is a lie - even the private between-friends versions - and heavily doctored to show the best possible version of that person. So if ANY Facebook page is unpleasant, I assume I'm dealing with a sincere moron and probable liability.

[General Zod]

I don't add people from work on my FB. It's pretty much that simple. I want SOMEWHERE to bitch about my job and I can't do that if I have coworkers snooping on my posts. It's also a lot simpler than trying to juggle more than one account and having to remember what I said in one or the other.

[Borgholio]

I don't add people from work on my FB. It's pretty much that simple. I want SOMEWHERE to bitch about my job and I can't do that if I have coworkers snooping on my posts. It's also a lot simpler than trying to juggle more than one account and having to remember what I said in one or the other.

I have a couple of close co-workers on my FB and that's fine since we all bitch about work together. But I refuse to add my boss or anybody above me to my friends list. They're all nice people, but I'd rather keep them out of vent range.

[Adam Reynolds]

I expected the thread to be about the morality of wielding duels...

So did I. It should be dual rather than duel.

Anyway, I don't see a problem, even with using a different identity. It's not any different than what any of us do here. Unless you have a reason to rather strongly dislike your parents for their choice in name.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Having two accounts and keeping the work one strictly work related is going to be a lot easier than adjusting the privacy settings so that stuff your work doesn't want linked with them stays private.

Meh, to each their own, but I disagree. I think it's a lot easier for me to simply set the privacy setting on the posts as I am making them rather than switching back and forth between accounts. I guess it's fairly moot because I'm not super active on Facebook, anyway, and most of my activity there is in private messages.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

I expected the thread to be about the morality of wielding duels...

Duelling Facefuck accounts?

[madd0ct0r]

I expected the thread to be about the morality of wielding duels...

So did I. It should be dual rather than duel.

Crap, thanks.

[Lagmonster]

In a world where people will try and dox you just because you disagree with them and/or try to rat you out to your employer, I see no problem with taking extensive measures to protect yourself.

Until such time as laws are put in place to protect people from the aforementioned types of attacks, you *should* do whatever you feel is necessary to protect yourself and your livelihood.

Helpful hint: Instead of saying dumb shit in a public and permanent manner about your employer, shut the fuck up. If you must say dumb shit about your employer, say it in private, to a person you trust. People you trust have a much lower chance of remembering you saying dumb shit than the Internet! Or get a dog, and say dumb shit to the dog. Dogs do not care if you say dumb shit, and they are statistically unlikely to record you saying dumb shit and preserve it for the remainder of human civilization. If you're afraid that you may forget about the dumb shit you said, and would like to record it, try writing it in a diary. As long as you do not give the diary to your employer, they will not learn that you said dumb shit.

Again, your individual experience may differ, but I grew up in a world where shutting the fuck up was the fool-proof preventative measure against saying dumb shit. Granted, saying dumb shit feels like the kind of right people might want to have, but in the end, shutting the fuck up results in far fewer unemployment opportunities.

[bilateralrope]

Having two accounts and keeping the work one strictly work related is going to be a lot easier than adjusting the privacy settings so that stuff your work doesn't want linked with them stays private.

Meh, to each their own, but I disagree. I think it's a lot easier for me to simply set the privacy setting on the posts as I am making them rather than switching back and forth between accounts. I guess it's fairly moot because I'm not super active on Facebook, anyway, and most of my activity there is in private messages.

I remember a while back that Facebook was changing their privacy options, which caused a lot of privacy settings to be reset to default. So I don't trust Facebook's privacy settings to be permanent.

[Elheru Aran]

In a world where people will try and dox you just because you disagree with them and/or try to rat you out to your employer, I see no problem with taking extensive measures to protect yourself.

Until such time as laws are put in place to protect people from the aforementioned types of attacks, you *should* do whatever you feel is necessary to protect yourself and your livelihood.

Helpful hint: Instead of saying dumb shit in a public and permanent manner about your employer, shut the fuck up. If you must say dumb shit about your employer, say it in private, to a person you trust. People you trust have a much lower chance of remembering you saying dumb shit than the Internet! Or get a dog, and say dumb shit to the dog. Dogs do not care if you say dumb shit, and they are statistically unlikely to record you saying dumb shit and preserve it for the remainder of human civilization. If you're afraid that you may forget about the dumb shit you said, and would like to record it, try writing it in a diary. As long as you do not give the diary to your employer, they will not learn that you said dumb shit.

Again, your individual experience may differ, but I grew up in a world where shutting the fuck up was the fool-proof preventative measure against saying dumb shit. Granted, saying dumb shit feels like the kind of right people might want to have, but in the end, shutting the fuck up results in far fewer unemployment opportunities.

I will strongly second this. You put something on the Internet, even if you delete it five minutes later, it's possible someone may have screenshotted or saved it. You say shit about your work on Facebook, Twitter, whatever... it's your neck.

One of your friends fucks up? Some relative of a relative that for some random reason you're friends with on FB posts racist shit? Your cousin posts a pro-Donald Trump meme? By all means call them out on it, have a big knock-down-drag-out brawl, whatever. But don't say shit about your work.

OK, something like "My day at work sucked" or "work was boring", that's one thing, I'll grant... but "My employer [Brand] SUCKS, they don't pay their employees enough, I'm going to start a union" is just asking for it. Easier to just not say anything and if someone asks directly if it's about work, PM them.

[biostem]

In a world where people will try and dox you just because you disagree with them and/or try to rat you out to your employer, I see no problem with taking extensive measures to protect yourself.

Until such time as laws are put in place to protect people from the aforementioned types of attacks, you *should* do whatever you feel is necessary to protect yourself and your livelihood.

Helpful hint: Instead of saying dumb shit in a public and permanent manner about your employer, shut the fuck up. If you must say dumb shit about your employer, say it in private, to a person you trust. People you trust have a much lower chance of remembering you saying dumb shit than the Internet! Or get a dog, and say dumb shit to the dog. Dogs do not care if you say dumb shit, and they are statistically unlikely to record you saying dumb shit and preserve it for the remainder of human civilization. If you're afraid that you may forget about the dumb shit you said, and would like to record it, try writing it in a diary. As long as you do not give the diary to your employer, they will not learn that you said dumb shit.

Again, your individual experience may differ, but I grew up in a world where shutting the fuck up was the fool-proof preventative measure against saying dumb shit. Granted, saying dumb shit feels like the kind of right people might want to have, but in the end, shutting the fuck up results in far fewer unemployment opportunities.

No, you missed my point. Let's say I happened to have my place of employment listed on the FB page. Now, let's say I get into an argument with some person on, well, any topic. They don't like the points I bring up, or they can't rebut the ones I bring up - so they instead contact my employer with some made-up story - "oh so-and-so is a misogynist" or "biostem is a fascist" - stupid stuff like that. And if this person happens to have some twitter followers or has a decent-sized youtube channel, they tell their audience to start a letter writing campaign.

I'm not talking about the obvious "I work for ABC corp and they suck!" type of stuff.

[General Zod]

Don't list your current place of employment on FB. Problem solved.

[Alferd Packer]

Don't list your current place of employment on FB. Problem solved.

Taking it a step further, I'd humbly suggest to consider stop using Facebook. I did so about two and a half years ago--but I freely admit that, as a user, I was an edge case. I read my newsfeed sporadically, had less than 100 friends, and posted things a handful of times a year. Point is, it was nearly impossible for my employer to glean much information about what I was doing, because I was barely engaged with the system in the first place.

As for dual-wielding Facebook accounts, I would simply ask how much utility one would gain from having one. In the internet age, it's important to remember that if you are not paying for a service, you are the product. So, one should at least attempt to estimate if the money Facebook makes off of you using their service(and the knowledge about you they are able to derive from that use) is worth the convenience it provides. In my case, having a single account ultimately wasn't worth it, so I stopped. In others' cases, it may be an acceptable tradeoff to have a personal account to engage with friends and family, and a professional account to have a distinct presence on the internet.

One final thing I will add, which has been touched on by numerous other posters in one form or another: the internet is, legally, no longer anonymous. If you check with the HR department at your place of employment, I'm sure they'll point out that almost every electronic form of communication you make is legally discoverable, be on on company email, via text between employees, posting on a sci-fi message board, or arguing with someone on Facebook. Most of the time, no one will ever care what you say, but there is nontrivial risk that someone might take issue, and at that point you're basically at the mercy of everything you've ever said on the internet.