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Topic: Do you friend your editors on Facebook?
| Author | Message |
| nella | Posted – 8/28/2008 4:45:25 PM | show profile Do you friend your editors on FB? And, if so, how many assignments do you write before you send / accept a friend request? |
| Mirage | Posted – 8/28/2008 4:55:51 PM | show profile I'm an editor, and I've had authors "friend" me on Facebook after just one project--but they were projects that went through without a hitch. I have accepted friend requests from authors on Facebook, but will not accept connection requests on LinkedIn unless I respect and can genuinely recommend that author's work. (I can think of at least two writers whose LinkedIn requests are forever sitting in the ether because they were disasters to work with, and I don't want anyone to think I've endorsed them by allowing them to connect on my page.) So I guess what I'm basically saying is, the number of assignments doesn't matter as much as genuinely having a good working relationship with the editor. |
| RubyRed | Posted – 8/28/2008 5:15:36 PM | show profile I personally sort of detest the overlapping social circles on Facebook these days... my friend list is mainly just that -- friends, but increasingly I have old work contacts creeping in, random people I met once at a party, guys I dated for five seconds, etc. I'll write something sassy in my status box, then realize that way too many inappropriate people can see what I just wrote. Sigh. I know, it's my own fault for accepting non-friend friends. Can't we just keep LinkedIn for work-related purposes? |
| sparky_fuego | Posted – 8/28/2008 5:44:56 PM | show profile i don't friend my editors unless they're actually friends or if they friend me. |
| mkelly | Posted – 8/28/2008 6:21:16 PM | show profile I don't friend my editors, but I do edit my friends. |
| worldofnatasha | Posted – 8/28/2008 6:39:05 PM | show profile I friend everyone I meet -- and accept all friend requests (I'm a writer). which is why I have 827 friends... I never write anything negative in my status updates (funny and snarky, yes, but never btching about work). So then when I have a new novel come out, I'm able to instantly let everyone know about it. |
| cynthia.mccloud | Posted – 8/29/2008 8:19:45 AM | show profile My editor friended me! I accepted -- I like her, knew her before she was my boss and would talk to her anyway even if she didn't give me work. However, this created a problem for me. I occasionally post notes when I need a real-person source for a story, such as "anybody go whitewater rafting and want to talk about it?" I'm not sure if she would find this way of putting out feelers acceptable. It's probably just me but I have a hinky feeling about it. I'm being careful lately to not put up anything about the stories I'm doing for her. That's a shame because my FB friends are mostly young professionals from a variety of fields. (My MySpace friends are more artist types.) Sounds like the start of a new thread ... . As for friending my editors, I don't know ... I have always felt kinda backward about popping the "will-you-be-my-friend" question to anyone but people I see every day (as in, they are actually my true friends already). So friending a boss adds a new layer of discomfort. What if you messaged them first, casually, such as "Great to see you on here!" and maybe comment on the project you just finished or something else about their site? (Without sounding like a stalker -- just mention you've read the same book or seen the same band in concert.) That way the ball is in their court to friend you. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 8/29/2008 10:25:05 AM | show profile No. On Facebook I accept friend requests from former co-workers and other freelancers, but I have to like them. I also don't say too much on there, for the same reasons RubyRed stated. On LinkedIn, I have a mix of old college buddies, professional contacts, and folks from here at MediaBistro. My MySpace, however, is purely social and has a different name and e-mail address. I used to accept friend requests from writers there, but the amount of "read my crappy new self-published book" spam in the bulletins got to be ridiculous. Still, because I know that employers, clients, and prospects like to "ghost" (look up professional contacts on MySpace and see if they're wanna-be porn stars with a beer bong habit), there's nothing on my MySpace page that would be incriminating and my friends all know not to post any questionable comment pictures. I also have a tracker that you can't see so I know the IP addresses of everyone who goes there. (Yes, those trackers do exist!) If I detect a ghost, I just make my page friends-only. |
| abqwriter | Posted – 8/29/2008 11:15:55 AM | show profile | email poster Any of you want to be my friend? (Ha! Just pushing the point.) Yes, I have a few editors who are friends on my Facebook page along with agents and even national folks who were interviewed who found me on Facebook. And, of course, lots of writer friends and acquaintances. Do I wish there was a way to separate out the groups and what each could see? Yeah - and I bet a newer version of Facebook will eventually allow for that. But I am leery about "friending" strangers where I can't see the content of their page, because I've had a few bad experiences with that on my humor diet blog - getting spammed with porn, etc. What I usually do is accept and then if it is way over the line into inappropriate, I drop them. |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 8/29/2008 11:32:23 AM | show profile VG I was just wondering the same thing. |
| Mirage | Posted – 8/29/2008 12:05:31 PM | show profile "When did the word "friend" become a verb?" Around the same time as "text" did. |
