Anti Social Media

You know that feeling, you have lots of things to tell clients and prospects but no time with which to broadcast your message...!

Well, that is exactly how it has been for the last two months here. We have been busy with a number of projects which have successfully come to fruition over the last week or so.

So if you have missed our regular posts, hopefully this month we will get back into the swing of blog writing. On the subject of social media (SM), here is thought to consider:

When LinkedIn first started it was somewhat exclusive - in fact you had to be invited to join and it was really difficult to connect to someone unknown. This gave it some gravitas and genuine exclusivity. But today it is easy to 'connect' to people and even easier to message out to people. But I believe this can be misleading.

There are some people out there with genuine connections to over 500 people - these are generally socially savvy users who were early adopters of SM. They are usually senior people who have 'been around'. They know their industries and they are respected.

However, there is a new breed of LinkedIn user. Lets call them the 'Connections Collectors" (CCs) The CCs are usually new to LinkedIn and it is their sole purpose to have as many connections as is humanly possible. You the type, they send you an invite to connect even though they have never even met you, let alone done any business with you.

I think this is quite scary...how can anyone possibly 'know' 2000 people?

So, how has this  happened? - well its simple really, the original Facebook generation have migrated into the workplace. These Facebookers will have based their popularity on how many FB friends they have. Seriously, I know a girl who has 3400 Facebook friends...in other words, no friends at all!

This obsession with collecting contacts has edged its way into the workplace and FB has been replaced by LinkedIn. 

But so what and who cares?

Well, to some people the number of connections a person has can seem impressive. Especially to the uninitiated or inexperienced SM user. This can create a house of cards if one is using it as a basis for skill/knowledge/ability or heaven forbid, employment!

So how can you tell if a connection is genuine?

There is a very simple test: I can pick up my phone and call every single one of my current 453 LinkedIn connections - invariably they will answer directly as I am calling their personal cell phones. This, dear reader is the acid test. A connection is only a real connection if you can actually speak to the person involved.

Easy!

If you want to hear more brutal opinionated views please feel free to call us on 01332 292241