Facebook Advice

Cheryl S SPHR

I've watched the previous posts on Facebook and now I'm all confused!

First, I am not currently set up on Facebook. Now, I need to create an account for work. What advice can you give me that would allow me to set this up but still have the option of having a separate personal account? Also, if you use it to check on potential new hires, what process do you use for that?

As always, I appreciate the group's thoughful advice!

Cheryl

NaeNae55

They require you to have a name, so you might have some trouble keeping them separate. Old friends or distant relations might find your work name and think they have found your personal account. If you had a nickname growing up, you might use it for your personal account.

As far as setting it up goes, it really has a lot to do with personal choices. What is your purpose going to be for work? Will you want just employees to access it, or will it be a type of company marketing tool? Will group options work best, or do you need more?

I would start with my personal account and play with it a bit before you set up a professional one. Learn the system a little, and then if you want to do something specific, you can ask here or even just google your question.

Good luck!

Nae

Paul in Cannon Beach

Having two Facebook accounts is a SERIOUS violation of Facebook's rules according to their website. You can create a "business" account which has limited functionality but you can't have a personal account as well.

FB is difficult to deal with. You can't really call for technical help. They rarely explain their decisions. Recently my video uploading ability was disabled due to "copyright violations". I make all my own videos and I dont use any copyrighted music or materials so I dont know how that happened. A couple days later, I could post videos again.

All to say I think FB is not as business friendly as it could be. Eventually I hope they will allow you to create seperate "profiles" for work and personal life recognizing that most people want to keep the two seperate.

Until then, you can have two profiles but you do so at your own risk that one day you will not be able to log in.

davids

I am not sure how things work on the technical side, but it is possible to have a business page and a personal page. I work for a city. We have a city page, a Parks & Recreation page, and a Human Resources page. The employee who serves as the administrator of the HR page also has a personal FB page. Due to vacation schedules, I won't see her again for another week or so; but when I do, I will find out how she set up the business account.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Its [U]possible[/U] but its a violation of FB's rules:

[I]You may create a business account if you don't already have a standard Facebook account. Please be aware that managing multiple accounts is a serious violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. If we determine that an individual has more than one account, we reserve the right[B] to terminate all of their accounts.[/B] [/I]

So before you go out and create multiple accounts, you have to ask yourself this question, "Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?"

Sharon McKnight SPHR

So far, I've been lucky!

Celeste Blackburn SPHR

When I saw Paul's first post in this thread, I asked him if he would write a post for our [URL="http://www.hrhero.com/techforhr"]Technology for HR blog[/URL]. He graciously complied -- giving me enough material for three blog posts.

[URL="http://hrhero.com/techforhr/2010/12/pauls-lovehate-relationship-with-facebook-a-cautionary-tale-part-1/"]Click here to read the first post in the trilogy of "Paul's Love/Hate Relationship with Facebook (A Cautionary Tale)." [/URL]

Sharon McKnight SPHR

Can't wait to read the next installment!

Sharon

Cheryl S SPHR

I'll be watching the series and hope to learn from it! I have now set up my personal account so I can begin using it. So far, nothing I've put there is "public." I want to get my feet wet before I drown myself!

Paul in Cannon Beach

I am glad someone is benefitting from my struggles with Facebook.

[IMG]http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/demotivators/mistakesdemotivationalposter.jpg[/IMG]

Celeste Blackburn SPHR

The second post is up! [URL="http://hrhero.com/techforhr/2010/12/pauls-lovehate-relationship-with-facebook-a-cautionary-tale-part-2/"]To read it, click here.[/URL]

cblackburn

The conclusion of Paul's series of posts on his Facebook ordeal is up. [URL="http://hrhero.com/techforhr/2011/01/pauls-lovehate-relationship-with-facebook-a-cautionary-tale-part-3/"]Click here to read it.[/URL]

NaeNae55

Poor Paul! I know several people who have several fb accounts. They just modify their names. I just have one account, but since I use it for both professional and personal connections, I am usually pretty careful about what I post (I am more free when commenting on someone else's post). This takes some of the fun out of my friends and family side, but like Paul I have found that some tools are not perfect.

ACU Frank

Things have gone a bit too smoothly for me on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn... so today I finally logged into Foursquare. I think this is the Grand Slam of Social Networking.

Paul in Cannon Beach

"My facebook ordeal". I love it.

Frank, let me know how Foursquare goes. I think its... wait for it... for squares.