Manager checks my social media

LegacyUser

I am early 20s and have a job in customer service for a large company (phone, email, chat support etc.). Never had a problem with any work I've ever done, no one has ever complained about me, people in the office like me, I actually quite like the job even though customers are angry sometimes the office itself is relaxed and friendly.

My love is journalism and social media and I use my instagram page and my own website to post outfit and fashion things, blog posts, general life, makeup etc. I have never mentioned work and you wouldn't know by any of my social media (including my facebook page) that I work at this company. Saying that my website, instagram and twitter account are obviously open for all to see - I do this so the reach is bigger and more people can read my posts and see the pictures.

My manager does not follow me on instagram and has a private page which I cannot see myself, but he watches all of my instagram stories (these are only up for 24 hours from posting so he checks regularly and never misses a post). I do not post anything while at work EVER but I'm getting paranoid about what I am 'allowed' to post. I would put up pictures of my friends and I in the pub holding our drinks and we would be quite drunk. This has never interfered with work, I've never been hungover or even late.

Is he watching for something or is this normal? I've never had a problem with him he's always been nice, to be honest we don't see him much. You could approach him with questions etc and if I had a problem at work I'd feel happy to go to him. I have another manager under him that I deal with more, the man I'm talking about is the manager of my 'immediate' manager and has his own office so not sitting with us day to day.

I also know that he looks at my twitter as he has 'liked' tweets from deep in my timeline (not my own tweets, but tweets that I have retweeted onto my page). Maybe he thinks I won't get a notification as it's not my tweet. He does not follow me, I do not follow him, and the things he has 'liked' have been old, as in he has scrolled down my page back to 4 or 5 months ago. They are just general tweets maybe about news or a joke, none of my own personal tweets or pictures.

What can I get in trouble for here? I haven't done anything out of the way or mentioned the company but I find myself second guessing weekend outfit posts in dresses or short skirts, but surely that's my time and my business? Sorry if this is very naive!!! This is my first office job out of college and I am desperately saving for a masters.

Pelvis

I'm struggling to see the issue. He's not doing anything wrong, you haven't done anything wrong.

Stop overthinking things.

Addle

What sort of people did you thing would be following your open profile?

wiggle16

Hi OP

I believe you are completely overthinking this.

The simplest explanation is usually the correct one - and the simplest explanation is that he finds your posts/pictures/content/etc interesting. Just as do all the other people who follow you on social media. The fact that he is your manager is irrelevant really. I would take it as a compliment. Now I'm not naive either so I initially thought that the implicit premise of your post was going to be that you were worried he might be leering at you - that's perfectly possible, but without any evidence of it, it doesn't sound like he's doing anything inappropriate.

I understand where you are coming from, since you say he has gone back and "liked" stuff from months ago. It's a little odd, but it doesn't sound sinister.

I wouldn't worry about it. He hasn't done anything inappropriate - once you put things out on social media you accept that anyone can see it and that anyone can interact with it. I think If I was in his shoes and had staff and was interested in a member of my staff's social media, I would maybe stop short of "liking" their posts. But then I'm not big into social media.

He's not spying on your SM to see if you've been on a night out if you call in sick the next day. If he was that would be 1) crazy and 2) ineffectual, since he knows you're aware that he looks at your SM.

If it bothers you, can you hide certain content from him? I'm not familiar with how extensive the privacy settings are on most platforms, but if you don't want him specifically to see you on nights out for example, can't you make pictures like that available to friends only?

Long story short, I wouldn't worry about it. He sounds like a nice manager to have - take him as you find him.

khaldrogo

He fancies you. Simple.

punisher5112

Stop putting your whole life online would be a start and way too many doing so.

If it bothers you set it up he can't see it or set up another account they wouldn't know of.

amdublin

You have all your accounts open and visible so people can view and like them.

He has viewed and sometimes liked your public postings.

I fail to see the issue.

If you want people to stop viewing your public profiles put your settings to private

Katgurl

Yeah he possibly thinks you're hot else you put up interesting posts.

I wouldn't worry about it. Why do you have everything public if you're worried about people looking at you?

Franz Von Peppercorn

Can you tell who watches the Instagram stories? I suppose so, since you said it.

That bit is a bit odd since he is not following you. Instagram informs me about stories from people I follow, they appear on top. I assume to see the stories of unfollowed posters you have to search the name every time, and he does that every day?

That is kinda stalkerish since he is not admitting to following you by actually following you, but he is.

Still largely benign though.

Go private for a month or two. You keep your followers and can allow people to folllow on request.

If he tries then don’t let him.

As for twitter I think most people are taking their lifestyle posts to Instagram or other photo services.

Batgurl

OP - how big a following do you have and do you have any mutual friends or followers on Instagram?

The search page on Instagram now prompts me with suggestions of people they think I want to follow. They are usually “influencers” that I have no interest in following but who a number of my friends would. As you know with Instagram stories, one follows the other automatically so it could just be that you come up in his watch stream if he’s viewing that.

Of course it’s possible that he doesn’t know Insta-stories show you the viewers (as happened a colleague of mine). The only way to know is to say “hey I saw you watched my insta-story last night, have you been to x? What did you think of it?” If he gets bashful or freaks out, it likely won’t happen again.

blairbear

I would say he doesn't know you can see who viewed your instastories. Three girls from work watch mine religiously but don't follow me or interact with me at all, and a lot of my friends have had to be told that you can tell if someone watches your story.

It sounds like he fancies you, tbh. It's the most obvious explanation.

I'm a doctor and I have loads of nights out involving lots of drinks up on my Instagram over the years. Anyone can see it. So long as I'm not in work the next day, it means nothing. You can do what you like so long as it isn't offensive/illegal/breaching confidentiality of the company. Don't be paranoid!

heretothere

If you haven't mentioned your company you can't get in trouble. A large American company I worked for a few years ago did state that if you had on you FB etc that you worked for the then your profile had to adhere to their policies so I've never said where I work on FB.

I don't think that's why he's checking out your social media though, I reckon he fancies you!

TheMilkyPirate

Plainly obvious that he fancies you

Addle

I'm not on Instagram. I look at other people's Instagram.
I don't fancy them.
I'm nosey and bored.

meeeeh

TheMilkyPirate wrote: »

Plainly obvious that he fancies you

Or he is checking you are not posting something that would damage the company. It wouldn't be unusual for employers to check the social media accounts.

Tokyo

At risk of pointing out the obvious here but...

one can't engage in social media where they publicly post about every nuance of their lives, and then complain express concern because people (regardless of the connection) make themselves aware of this information. The only thing that differentiates this person from the (likely) hundreds of others following your account is that you happen to know this individual.

If you wish for the day to day of your life to be public knowledge, then by all means keep your accounts public. If you wish for more privacy in your day to day life, then the onus lies with you to make your accounts more private, or apply filters. Much like we do in any other aspect of our lives really.

ManOfMystery

The moment you start blogging to a public audience or set your FB/Instagram/Twitter/etc to wide open rather than private, then you forfeit any right to complain about who looks at them.

Now I know you're not complaining as such, but it sounds like you'd be happier if you didn't have the knowledge your manager was looking - and it's making you slightly uncomfortable. This is the price you pay unfortunately. You can block people if they're hassling you of course, but by and large you cannot dictate who is going to look at your public posts and who isn't. If you want to do so, set them to private.

In my eyes, he hasn't been creepy or lecherous, he hasn't said anything to you, he hasn't been doing anything wrong as such. Yours could be one of hundreds of Social Media pages he looks at. You have to recognise that if you're going to court an internet audience, there is always the possibility that said audience may include local people and people you know - not just random strangers sitting thousands of miles away. Either get comfortable with it, or go private.

blairbear

mike_ie wrote: »

At risk of pointing out the obvious here but...

one can't engage in social media where they publicly post about every nuance of their lives, and then complain because people (regardless of the connection) make themselves aware of this information. The only thing that differentiates this person from the (likely) hundreds of others following your account is that you have to know this individual.

If you wish for the day to day of your life to be public knowledge, then by all means keep your accounts public. If you wish for more privacy in your day to day life, then the onus lies with you to make your accounts more private, or apply filters. Much like we do in any other aspect of our lives really.

Is she complaining though? She is more stressed that she is doing something "wrong".

Tokyo

blairbear wrote: »

Is she complaining though? She is more stressed that she is doing something "wrong".

Perhaps 'complaining' was a poor choice of word. But substitute 'express concern about' in its place, and the rest of the advice stands.

Franz Von Peppercorn

mike_ie wrote: »

At risk of pointing out the obvious here but...

one can't engage in social media where they publicly post about every nuance of their lives, and then complain express concern because people (regardless of the connection) make themselves aware of this information. The only thing that differentiates this person from the (likely) hundreds of others following your account is that you have to know this individual.

If you wish for the day to day of your life to be public knowledge, then by all means keep your accounts public. If you wish for more privacy in your day to day life, then the onus lies with you to make your accounts more private, or apply filters. Much like we do in any other aspect of our lives really.

He’s not following her, mike. He’s searching her profile every time.

Franz Von Peppercorn

mike_ie wrote: »

Perhaps 'complaining' was a poor choice of word. But substitute 'express concern about' in its place, and the rest of the advice stands.

It’s not very useful advice to a younger generation who enjoy social media. And she’s just wondering what it means.

woodchuck

Maybe he fancies you.
Maybe he likes what you post.
Maybe he's checking up on you.

None of us are mind readers though! I agree it's a little unusual, but don't think you have anything to worry about. You said yourself, you're not posting anything inappropriate or during working hours. And if he has a crush on you, he'd be an idiot to act on it.

Pelvis

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

He’s not following her, mike. He’s searching her profile every time.

So? It makes not a blind bit of difference.

Teyla Emmagan

You probably keep your nosing discreet though - no thanking ancient posts etc

amdublin

Why do we automatically think he fancies her?

He might be just nosey. Social media is great for nosey people. I'm including myself in that

georgina toadbum

I think it's pretty weird that he's looking at her Instagram story if he's not following her. I'd just block him or 'hide' your story from him.

Big Bag of Chips

Has he approached you on any level to mention how or why this could affect your job? If not then why do you assume that it will get you in trouble in work? Your intention, as stated below is that loads of people will see your stuff.

watchfuleyes wrote: »

my website, instagram and twitter account are obviously open for all to see - I do this so the reach is bigger and more people can read my posts and see the pictures.

He's just one of loads of people who look at your stuff. Social media, as already mentioned, is perfect for the nosey amongst us. He's nosey, and you are giving him plenty of material to leaf through.

If he has not mentioned it to you in any way in the context of it affecting your job then there is nothing you need to do.

If you don't want your boss to see pictures of you holding drinks and in short skirts then stop posting them, or change your privacy settings.

bigpink

Why not make a page for the subject you blog about?Then keep your other social media private

suicide_circus

This is like wearing a low cut top and then wondering why people are glancing at the goods. You're profile is public, people are going to check it out.