Friend or not to friend: Coworker Facebook friend requests as an application of communication privacy management theory
Introduction
The use of Facebook in the workplace and among colleagues continues to be an area of increased interaction. Social media use results in greater development of communication between coworkers, consumers, and corporations for organizational functioning, advertising, and public relations (Balderrama, 2009, boyd and Ellison, 2008, Ellison et al., 2007, Ross et al., 2009). A recent development of organizations’ social media practices includes utilization of Facebook to seek and confirm interview-based information and make employment decisions (Athavaley, 2007, Berkshire, 2005, Jamieson, 2011, Needleman, 2010, Smith and Kidder, 2010). The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge has seen a substantial increase in litigation between employers and employees involving social media disclosures (Frankel, 2011, Greenfield, 2011). In this interconnected social media environment working professionals make decisions about social media use and the management of private information on Facebook (Child et al., 2011, Nielsen, 2011, Qualman, 2009). This study contributes to this understudied area of research about coworker interaction and Facebook, examining how working professionals make decisions about requests from coworkers to connect as colleagues via social media.
Facebook offers a host of third-party applications connecting colleagues and business associates. The longer an individual maintains a Facebook account the more frequent their usage patterns are for all of the interactive functions offered through the site, including status updates, commenting on content, tagging and liking behaviors, and sending private messages (Hampton, Goulet, Marlow, & Rainie, 2012). Over a 2-year time span (2008–2010) the number of people using social networking sites doubled with the average age of users shifting from 33 years old to 38 years old (Hampton, Goulet, Rainie, & Purcell, 2011). This evidence suggests that Facebook users are older, more interactive across time, and comfortable integrating Facebook interaction into daily routines.
Working professionals may feel vulnerable about allowing co-workers to be their Facebook friends because organizations can easily use Facebook to seek out information about them and engage in surveillance (Jamieson, 2011, Needleman, 2010, Smith and Kidder, 2010). Facebook first experienced widespread popularity among individuals using it to connect to peers and close friends (Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009), which means they may be disclosing and sharing private information not intended for professional co-workers to read and access. As such, we frame a co-worker Facebook friend request as triggering a possible privacy dilemma for working professionals, like researchers have done in other contexts (Child and Westermann, 2013, Petronio and Jones, 2006, Petronio et al., 2003). Working professionals may not know how to deal with or effectively respond to incoming requests from co-workers to be Facebook friends.
Consider the following scenario. Everyone in Jane’s department is on Facebook and they are all Facebook friends. In fact, being on Facebook is one way that colleagues learn more about each other and they talk about photos, events, and posts at lunchtime. Because everyone seems to bond over Facebook and she does not want to be left out, Jane feels pressure to accept her colleagues as Facebook friends. However, even though she accepts all Facebook requests from her coworkers, she does not feel comfortable about the decision. One reason is that her boss is known for being on Facebook to see if her coworkers are also on, or even, if a coworker calls off sick, her boss tries to tell if they are “faking” it. Jane wants to start using her privacy settings so that her colleagues cannot see as much on her Facebook page; however, she is afraid they will be able to tell. This example illustrates how co-worker Facebook friend requests may trigger a privacy dilemma and reexamination of privacy management practices for organizational members. The goal of this study is to utilize Communication Privacy Management theory (Petronio, 2002) as a foundation for advancing hypotheses about working professionals’ responses to co-worker Facebook friend requests.
Section snippets
Working professionals’ Facebook use and privacy management practices
When considering co-worker linkages and social media, Facebook use produces both potentially positive and negative effects for working professionals. The extension of such requests can be seen as a threat when perceived as an organizational surveillance or privacy invasion attempt (Agre, 1994, Allen et al., 2007, Petronio, 1994). Furthermore, social media disclosures can be harmful for coworkers when posted information goes beyond the intended boundaries, is taken out of context, or poorly
Organizational communication, Facebook, and co-worker Facebook friend requests
Organizations frequently utilize social media to interact with both internal and external constituencies (Balderrama, 2009, Ellison et al., 2007, Ross et al., 2009). However, Facebook has not typically been the venue for maintaining professional working connections in comparison to other social media sites, such as LinkedIn (Child & Petronio, 2011). While not a brand new phenomenon, the study of social media, such as Facebook, in the workplace is still in its infancy (Acquisti and Gross, 2006,
Organizational privacy norms and co-worker Facebook friend requests
Socializing employees to understand an organization’s norms and values is something that occurs throughout an individual’s entire career (Chao, O’Leary-Kelly, Wolf, Klein, & Gardner, 1994). Previous CPM research establishes that individuals’ disclosure and privacy management practices can be heavily influenced by groups, such as organizations and families, where members of the group form distinct orientations about the management of private information with others in the group as well as
Facebook privacy management practices and co-worker Facebook friend requests
One way that individuals may assert greater control over privacy on social media is to be very careful about what they reveal to others on their Facebook page in the first place (Child and Agyeman-Budu, 2010, Child et al., 2009, Child et al., 2011, 2012). Working professionals can utilize Facebook in passive or active ways or be more public or private when using social media to interact with others online (Child and Petronio, 2011, Child et al., 2011). Individuals with higher levels of both
Co-worker communication satisfaction and co-worker Facebook friend requests
Workplace friendships provide valuable personal and professional benefits. Though many workplace friendships are often based on proximity, common work interests, or projects, workplace relationships may grow to include personal disclosure, mutual respect, need, and trust (Berman et al., 2002, Krouse and Affifi, 2007). Examining the use of Facebook in workplace relationship maintenance and development provides a way to extend the role of technology through social media. Overall, research
Participants
Working professionals with a full-time job who had a Facebook account comprised participants of the study. The average age of the sample was approximately 31 years old (M = 31.14; SD = 12.15). Overall, 312 participants completed an online survey instrument. Participants of the study came from a variety of small and large companies with the average company size reflecting approximately 2300 organizational members (M = 2295.25, SD = 16905.69) and an average of 52 members in the participant’s immediate
Coworker Facebook friend request decisions and privacy rule adjustments
To explore coworker Facebook friend request decisions, a series of categorical questions were utilized. First, participants responded to if they had ever received a coworker Facebook friend request (yes/no). Then, they were asked in general how do they handle such requests (accept, reject, or do not respond to the request). Finally, participants were asked if they made any modifications to their privacy settings (yes/no) or if they made any deletions to profile content or postings (yes/no)
Results
The first research question examined how working professionals respond to coworker Facebook friend requests, exploring if there is a most common manner for dealing with requests. The majority of participants (n = 266, 86.4%) had received a coworker Facebook friend request as a Facebook user; whereas, fewer participants (n = 42, 13.6%) had never received a coworker Facebook friend request to date while using Facebook. The analysis for this research question is based on only individuals who have
Discussion
Facebook has become a critical place to engage in proactive privacy management because of its increased access and use by many segments of the population (Child et al., 2011, 2012; Child & Petronio, 2011). This current investigation adds to the body of research that attempts to understand working professionals’ decisions when interacting with coworkers via Facebook. The goal of this research was to also examine CPM theory-based factors that may be suggestive of variations in privacy boundary
Implications for future research
Individuals who use new media for interaction have implicitly made a decision to trust it more to facilitate relationships, as indicated by the 90% acceptance rates of co-worker Facebook friend requests and limited amount of working professionals who adjusted their privacy rules (25%) after accepting co-worker Facebook friend requests. Users become closer with it, trust it more, and engage with it more. Facebook gives individuals a high level of gratification and therefore it becomes deeply
Conclusion
This research adds to the richness of Communication Privacy Management theory (Child et al., 2009, Petronio, 2002) by providing a deeper understanding about how the theory aids in understanding social media privacy applications when considering mediated coworker interactions. CPM theory allows exploration of privacy in both face-to-face and mediated communication contexts. Specifically our findings illuminate how the sharing and protecting of private information through social media happens
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