I am a GREAT LOVER of Facebook, Timeline and all. One of the things that I DO NOT like is that Facebook offers the option of people that you are friend with to say that you’ve WORKED together and does NOT present you with the option of refuting that. THIS needs to be addressed.
I have had a number of people claim that we’ve worked together and that i’ve worked with them at companies that have never employed me. In ever instance, we are friends in a networking sense as I use my Facebook to extend my network and as a business tool. It boggles my mind that people would obviously state a blatant untruth, knowing that I would see it. Could it be a situation that if they say it enough times, it will make it truth?
Take a look at the image below and notice four people that claimed that we’ve worked together. Yet I have never worked for any of these companies, and with any of these people.
Is this a new thing in the social media arena? Thoughts? Has this happened to you? What have to you done about it if anything? Please share your experiences and remedies if this has happened to you?
Related articles
- #Facebook Timeline Is Coming 2/29, Get Over It AND Upgrade Already. SERIOUSLY (anisesmithmarketing.com)
- #Facebook Timeline : Make A Timeline Movie Whydoncha’ (anisesmithmarketing.com)
- Get READY: Facebook Timeline For Brands As Early As This Month (anisesmithmarketing.com)
February 19, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Anise, doesn’t owning shares in you count as having worked together?
🙂 I have seen people write LinkedIN recommendations (I mean OUTRIGHT LIES) for people they’ve never met. Kind of devalues the whole idea, doesn’t it? When your “connections” start to equal “points” in a game, watch out. I’ve concluded that there will always be cheaters in all areas of life. They’re just playing a different game – and one day, they’re likely to be spectacularly caught out.
You should run around asking them all for references. Have them sent to a P.O. Box. See if any – and how many – respond. That ought to be good for a follow up post! LOL
February 20, 2012 at 7:56 am
Hi Holly,
Thanks for taking time to read and comment! Oh yeah I forgot about the old Eave and share thing🙂 I get the Linkedin request for recommendations as well and it does put you in an odd spot. I cannot write a recommendation unless I’ve had some dealings with you. I would even feel weird about asking someone for a recommendation that I had not had an opportunity to work with.
February 19, 2012 at 5:05 pm
One small defense about this…. While I agree FB shouldn’t allow us to tag identify others as working with us, it’s a VERY easy mistake to make.
Case and Point – a few months ago I was trying to make a smart list for people that were involved in Empire Avenue. After I earmarked 90 or so people, It was brought to my attention that I was saying these people worked at “Tony Bennett for Senate/ Social Media Superhero..” I put quickly out an oops I’m a moron status update, but I’m sure it ticked off quite a few people. I had NO IDEA that particular smart list was for people I worked with!
February 20, 2012 at 7:52 am
Hey Tony!
Thanks for taking time to comment! That is totally understandable under those circumstances. I figured it could have been some kind of odd glitchy thing.
February 19, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Weird, that’s never happened to me. Can anyone else see who you’ve worked with, or is it just your personal info?
It definitely needs work though as some people in my list are people I still work with, whilst others I used to work with – still says ‘worked with’ for both. Some of those I used to work with (same company as the others) don’t appear in the list at all, so it’s inconsistent.
February 20, 2012 at 7:58 am
Hi Jenni,
Thanks for taking time to read and comment. I agree, It is very odd but I am getting some really great feedback from this post and I am hearing very logical explanations that make sense.
February 19, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Oh geez, I looked a little more closely at your illustration and saw I was an example. Trust me, I know we never worked together because I don’t even have a company!
Some blame should be placed on facebook as well because once I found about it, I disbanded the entire list… But obviously it doesn’t retract the work request if you still have it!. I did that back in October I think!
Anyway, thanks for still being friends with me after all the BS I put you through🙂
February 20, 2012 at 7:59 am
No worries Tony, this post was totally NOT directed toward at ALL, it was an incident that happened yesterday. No BS at all, You rock and I am honored to have you as a friend.
February 20, 2012 at 12:29 am
I have seen this however I have been asked for approval and rejected it when I see it is” less than accurate”. Now I going back to make sure. I agree with you Anise.
I must admit, I don’t put a lot of weight on the career profiling in Facebook- I tend to use Linkedin for that. Like you I really like Facebook but I use it for people to get to know me and what I stand for. I usually reference my LI profile for my career journey and confirmation of who has worked with me.
February 20, 2012 at 8:05 am
Hi Shirley!
Thanks for taking time to read and comment! It is a very weird thing but I am getting a bit more understanding now. I think some of the instances were totally innocent others may have to be placed in the weird category. LOL
I’m with you with LinkedIn, it is a great professional resource and the usage of Facebook which is a great resource for people to see what you are all about. Facebook as been really great for this since offering the ability to allow people to subscribe to your updates. I just blogged about how amazing Facebook is for meeting and extending a brand, meeting amazing people an allowing people to get to know you as a person.
February 20, 2012 at 4:28 pm
I’ve never even seen this option on Facebook, likely because I use FB for more intimate friends – even if we’ve worked together. The notion of identifying whether we have worked together is moot – I see that as a place for LinkedIn. Speaking of LinkedIn, I’ve often checked off that I’ve worked with someone at a specific company, even though not true, because I don’t know their personal email address to have the ‘request to connect’ go through. The person at the other end always knows me, and accepts with no ‘issue’ taken at associating myself with the wrong company.
February 21, 2012 at 9:44 pm
Hi Susan,
Thanks for taking time to read and comment. I have never seen the option either for myself but I have been notified when someone has said they worked with me. It is very odd. What is really annoying is that you do not have the opportunity to address it by approving or disapproving.
I view LinkedIn as a great place to connect professionally, but I do a LOT of business networking by way of Facebook. 85% or more of my contacts on Facebook are business contacts, this is one of the reasons that I was a bit surprised by people saying that we’ve worked together when we obviously had not. It is an odd thing but I do have more of an understanding now based on some of the responses that I’ve received from this post.
December 12, 2012 at 5:49 pm
I think I see the problem. I’ve had the same issue. This is likely what happened: You made a list of your Friends and categorically included them in a list that had the same title as your workplace. Thus, FB saw it as a list of your work friends. The icon for that list probably has a little briefcase next to it. It’s not the same as a regular list you put your friends in. It’s a “special” list. I also work in a company that relies on social media and often my work overlaps (and needs to). Add to that, I’m in charge of social media. So – FB saw your new list as a “work” list, as it was named the same as your workplace and asked everyone to include that in their profile.
December 12, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Ahhh..You know what, that explains a lot. I just could NOT for the life of me understand why this happened.🙂 Well, thanks for taking time to read and comment!