5 reasons to friend your network on Facebook

Are you connected to your aunt on LinkedIn? Does your boss follow your Twitter account? Are you connected to clients, vendors, or recruiters on Facebook?

If not, why not?

For all the fears about what might happen if the wrong person gets ahold of those photos of you in Vegas, in most cases, blending your online profiles is not only easier, but a heck of a lot more effective for you in the long run.

Here’s why I friend my clients and colleagues:

1. Personal and professional lives are becoming more intertwined. As more companies embrace telecommuting, and as more people pursue flexible work schedules, the lines between our personal and professional lives will get even blurrier. I already take business calls while I’m dropping my daughter at day care, and handle family business between client meetings. If we’re no longer leaving work at the office, why should we leave our networks there?
2. “Online privacy” doesn’t exist. If you believe that you can talk about your weekend escapades, your radical political affiliations, or your eccentric hobbies in the “privacy” of your Facebook account without others seeing/hearing/finding out about it, please disabuse yourself of that notion. There is no such thing as online privacy. Things can be saved, forwarded, and cached ad infinitum, and once it’s out there you can’t get it back. If you conduct yourself on online media like your boss or your grandmother might see it, then there’s no reason to keep them from seeing it.
3. It’s just plain easier. Who wants to explain why you won’t friend the girl in the next cube? Or deal with the awkwardness of avoiding her so you don’t have to? How do you decline an invite from someone you’re already connected to on another network?
4. You can leverage your connections from one platform to the next. I actively invite people to connect with me in other forums, because it means I’m more likely to be where that person spends the most time. If I connect with a potential client on LinkedIn, but they spend most of the time on Twitter, I’ll be getting a pretty small share of their attention. Where is best to reach the people you want to connect with?
5. People do business with people. People don’t hire resumes, they hire people. And seeing that you’re a real person, with a rich, enjoyable personal life, is only going to work in your favor. What avenues are best to help someone get to know you? Only you can decide.

Now, before you have a panic attack, there are ways to control what people see, even different settings for each individual in some cases. Learn about how to keep your online profiles professional. But don’t be scared about inviting your professional contacts into a piece of your personal life. Sometimes, that’s how the strongest business relationships are made.

photo credit: luc legay

Related posts:

1. Facebook Friends and Business Networking: Friend is a Dirty Word
2. Are you making one of these 10 Facebook job search mistakes?
3. Facebook’s new privacy settings make managing your personal brand easier
4. Trust and Networking: 3 Keys to a Business Network that Works
5. Break out of LinkedIn: Using Facebook for Professional Networking