facebook - Should you 'friend' a person you cover?

it's a lot easier tracking down athletes who, for one reason or another, aren't very good at checking their phones for missed calls/voicemails. i could go thru my friends list and pick out roughly half who are athletes i've covered or i'm currently covering. that may be looked down at here, but i've kept everything with said athletes as professional as can be.

 

I've contacted athlete's through FB before, but haven't friended anyone.

 

Echo!

 

Add them as a friend. Far worse: Using friend as a verb.

 

White Sox rookie Aaron Poreda announced his call-up via his facebook page and someone who was "friends" with him saw it first and broke the story.

 

If you're in the midst of covering him or her, I'd say no.

However, if you're no longer covering that beat or you've left the profession, feel free.

 

This may sound weird, but Facebook yes -- MySpace no.

 

things have changed

the world is different

Mizzougrad is right. If you spend your time fretting over the use of "friend" as a verb, you're going to fall behind. It's important to embrace this stuff. I check in with people I cover on facebook constantly, either via private message or instant messenger.

It's a not insignificant part of the news-gathering process now for me

 

Try working for a school system and convincing the 60-something hierarchy that facebook and youtube should not be blocked on school websites.

Teenagers have email accounts so they can talk to old people.

 

You really don't even need a second page. Just set up a limited profile on your main page and make sure biz contacts only get whatever you choose.

And in the terminology used by most on the site, friend and defriend are verbs. But you can use whatever archaic terminology you want on that Web site.

 

I recognize that friend is routinely used as a verb when talking about Facebook. That fact doesn't mean I have to like it. It just makes me cringe whenever I hear it.

 

I like the athletes I cover better than at least 50 people who made my "friends" list. It's the 25-and-under equivalent of having someone in your Rolodex.