Also tempting, but I don't think we want to put in the effort to keep up the social links properly. Especially since they all go to the same school (making it hard to maintain a better social control than Buffy) and Giles in particular is going to be a difficult to flip if we try for that.
I think it worth it, if we can move them on our side, in the long-term they're our allies and they're going to help/trust us.
I mean, we don't really have to even interact with them but we can't simply ignore them since they're a central part of all of this.
You're looking at it too seriously and as if any relationship need for people to be together 24/7, we're already going out sometimes with Annie in the evening. If we really wanted to maintain a social link with them we can do so without always being a major part of their everyday life and have their trust. I mean Buffy can act crazy, she doesn't go and slaughter her friends tho.
The last thing is letting Angel handle it is a bad idea considering they just fought last night since Buffy saw him in his 'monstrous' form, kind of. That kind of impression is hard to shake off even if you come back next morning with a handsomely smile and a branch of olive to make peace.
This way at least we get a good in with Angel. In this situation I don't see much hope in trying to split Buffy from her companions, besides Buffy will no doubt find plenty of opportunities in the future to look bad and we can always subtly gloat about how we were able to be reasonable in this situation when Buffy acted impulsively.
Why would we do that when we already are on the good side of Angel and he's grateful to us for saving/helping him? What more would you want? Antagonizing Buffy really will bring nothing to the table but hostilities, which will follow along from Buffy's companions as well. I mean you don't just sit there while your friend is being mocked, right?
Buffy is not the antagonist, she's someone that can be useful to us and we're discarding her for a social victory over her?
I might be misunderstanding something and if that is the case, sorry, but that's the impression I got at least. I'm mostly confused, here.