'Friending' on social networks: the workplace risks.

We generally use the word befriend to indicate forming a friendship with someone. However, the word friend is now used frequently to express the act of forming a friendship, especially in reference to sending "friend requests" to others on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Forming such friendships is harmless in most cases. However, in the workplace, risks might arise when online friendships form between managers and subordinates. Attorney Michael Schmidt, a lawyer in the New York office of Cozen O'Connor, warns that social networking friendships between managers and employees can have unintentional consequences. Such relationships sometimes result in legal claims involving, for example, harassment, discrimination, or wrongful termination.

Members of social networking sites often provide such personal information as age, sex, ethnic background, health problems, and religious and political Vaffiliations. Some members also may be uninhibited about telling stories about their or colleagues' inappropriate or even deviant behavior...