My boss recently added me on facebook which is fine.. not awkward or anything because she’s one of those fun loving, laidback, cool kind of person who everyone gets along with. Now the thing is, since the last 2 days or so, her status are really sad kind.. and today, she seemed really down, didn’t even go out for lunch. I brought her tea and all because she didn’t seem very well and tonight her status was something really depressing. I know she has been going through some family issues/divorce in recent times and things aren’t so easy for her. Now should I say something or comment to make her feel better? Or should I just stay away?
Re: communicating with your boss through facebook
Personally, if she felt comfortable enough to add you on facebook knowing that you would be aware of her status updates, then i think it is not only right but also somewhat complimentary for you to comfort her or inquire if everything’s alright.
A small gesture, but who knows how far it’ll go into making her feel better.
Besides how do you know she’s not observing you by doing this. Every employer measures your attentiveness differently, if your probation period is about to be up, this may be your last test to see if you observe well and act accordingly. 
Okay, that’s just my wild imagination. But what i said first still counts. 
Re: communicating with your boss through facebook
Unless this is a small company, your boss is the owner, I would try to keep the personal stuff private. She may not have been thinking of who might be reading her page, so its best not to reference FB. You should definitely mention something nice if you see her feeling sad..you can tell if someone is down.
you said she's pretty laidback, so i dont think there'd be any harm in sending her a comforting message etc.
Unless this is a small company, your boss is the owner, I would try to keep the personal stuff private. She may not have been thinking of who might be reading her page,
If her boss added her, and then updating her FB page .. I think its obvious that its ok for her to share that with Pareezay
Re: communicating with your boss through facebook
Personally i would never add anyone from work to my FB, not even my collegues that I am friends with at work.
FB is extremely personal and lot of things goes on like statuses, pictures, walls that has information that I certainly do not want people at my work to talk or wonder about.
There are just wayy too many issues with adding people from work.
Re: communicating with your boss through facebook
Just comfort her and do not try to find out what is bothering her. If she wants to share her problems with you , she would. If she is not sharing her problems on FB obviously she wants to keep them personal and wants to share at her own discretion.
Re: communicating with your boss through facebook
Same here, would never add anyone from work let alone my boss onto my facebook. The only one that did manage to slip through is on very restricted access :D
Re: communicating with your boss through facebook
If she updates her status on FB with such things, then it’s obvious she wants some comforting and attention through this difficult time, as FB status can be seen by all of her “friends”. 
I’m not too sure as to what is the right thing to do…
By offering her a “shoulder to cry on” she might end up using you as her work blanket… thus offloading all her emotional baggage onto you, which is inappropriate and will probably affect your working relationship with her.
But on the other hand… if you can blatantly see that something is wrong, i think it’s pretty heartless to not offer any words of comfort… so maybe try to find some middle ground?
This is why, if i was currently working, i would never add current colleagues… you’ll start to see them in a different light and it will inevitably affect your professional relationship. Having said that, i guess adding ex colleagues is deemed as ok.
The moral of the story - use sites like LinkedIn to network professionally.
Personally i would never add anyone from work to my FB, not even my collegues that I am friends with at work. FB is extremely personal and lot of things goes on like statuses, pictures, walls that has information that I certainly do not want people at my work to talk or wonder about. There are just wayy too many issues with adding people from work.
Ditto! - this is something that I realized a few years ago, and I manage my sociability portfolio online very carefully.
Facebook is for family and close friends only... LinkedIn and Plaxo for professional contacts and other acquaintances.
If someone from work adds me to their facebook account, I politely tell them that I don't use it all that much but I am on LinkedIn, and would love to add them to my contacts list there.
If her boss added her, and then updating her FB page .. I think its obvious that its ok for her to share that with Pareezay
Yes, but there is a difference between reading something on FB versus seeing for yourself. If someone was majorly upset on FB, they will probably seem upset the next day, it's more appropriate to ask how they're doing based on their demeanor instead of referencing FB.
There should be a clear defining line of professionalism, with a human side, which means that: If I see my boss crying I will ask him if everything is alright, not based on what he wrote online 12 hours ago.
Re: communicating with your boss through facebook
^Im talking about writing something on her facebook about it, not going upto her xx hours later and asking, oh are you okay. and TLK is right, if she has made her status viewable to me, while I have her restricted on a few stuff, it means she is okay with me knowing about it. She generally very chatty and open at work about her life, we doesn't seem like the person who doesn't wanna talk about it.
^Im talking about writing something on her facebook about it, not going upto her xx hours later and asking, oh are you okay. and TLK is right, if she has made her status viewable to me, while I have her restricted on a few stuff, it means she is okay with me knowing about it. She generally very chatty and open at work about her life, we doesn't seem like the person who doesn't wanna talk about it.
It's a judgment call. I don't add bosses to FB account but if you feel comfortable with it, go for. Personally, I keep the line between professional/personal demarcated. Even my colleagues that I consider friends/party with, know that at the workplace we don't bring in what happened on a Friday night.
That being said, if someone is visibly distressed then of course we should say something.