Paul Dyer always was able to hold off his boss’s invitations to party by employing that arm’s-length response: “We’ll have to do that sometime,” he’d say.
But when his boss, in his 30s, invited Dyer, 24, to be friends on the social-networking sites Myspace and Facebook, dodging wasn’t so easy. On the one hand, accepting a person’s request to be friends' online grants them access to the kind of intimacy never meant for office consumption, such as recent photos of keggers. . .. But declining a “friend” request from a colleague or a boss is a slight. So, Dyer accepted the invitation, then removed any inappropriate or incriminating photos of himself. . .. Dyer, it turns out, wasn’t the one who had to be embarrassed. His boss had photos of himself attempting to imbibe two drinks at once, ostensibly, Dyer ventures, to send the message: “I’m a crazy, young party guy.”

1. Big mistake. Unwind the situation as quickly and graciously as possible, preferably in person. Explain how.
2. Don’t panic. Let the online relationship whither away from lack of attention.
3. Play along for awhile in hopes the boss has a short online attention span and will flit off to pester others.
4. You’ve made a bad decision; now don’t compound it by alienating your boss. Participate in the virtual relationship, applying your own ethical boundaries.
Explain those boundaries.
5. Invent other interpretations or options. Discuss.