We all have friends on social media who are also colleagues. But the likes and comments we receive from them may not always be genuine.

Colleagues may simply like or comment on your posts just because they are your co-workers or are in the same professional network like LinkedIn. This can lead to insincere interactions, which may not reflect your actual popularity or engagement on social media.

Social media algorithms are designed to promote engagement, which means that posts with higher likes and comments are more likely to be shown to a wider audience. Therefore, colleagues may feel the need to like or comment on your posts, not because they genuinely enjoy the content, but because they want to boost the post’s visibility.

Social media is a public platform, and what you post can have an impact on your professional reputation. Colleagues may interact with your posts to maintain a positive relationship with you, even if they disagree with the content. This can cause us to have an alter ego and a false identity and understand who are our real friends.