Tuesday, May 24, 2011

linkedin...really?

I consider myself fairly social media savvy. I am on facebook, twitter, have two blogs, a youtube channel, can text with the best of them and am the proud owner of an iPhone (4 thank you very much). I have a linkedin account too, but I never use it.

The thing is, I was assuming that nobody used it and that it was just a tool for recruiters to stalk you. When I heard about their initial stock offering going gangbusters, I thought, what the heck, I'll login and see what's up.

185 messages in my inbox.
92 link requests.

Ugh.

Normally I am all for new ways to expand my network of friends. For some reason, I find myself resisting linkedin. There is nothing fun about it. I suppose it is good to have a professional version of facebook, but when you write as candidly as I do, it isn't really necessary. Anyone can search my name and find my blog. I've had reference checkers tell my about-to-be-boss that they think I'm quite humorous (as in laugh with not at). I don't personally feel the need to connect with people on a site for strictly professional reasons. Am I alone in my boredom with linkedin? Or do I just need to suck it up and embrace it?

Are you on linkedin? Are we linkedin? Do we need to be? Or maybe we can just do the facebook thing...

6 comments:

  1. No interested in it either. It's my least fave social media vehicle. But if I was looking for a job, I would have it looking hot. And if I'm hiring someone, I hope theirs looks hot.

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  2. Anonymous11:19 a.m.

    Well, I'm so glad you asked. Linked is for professional contacts, not Facebook. While it's true that you may write candidly, not everyone does. I do for my close friends, but not for a contact I may want to connect with in the future. Because of this, I have privacy levels (groups) on FB, which sometimes offend people, but I think.. well man, who told you to add a stranger to Facebook, add me to your Linked in! THAT's what it's for! If you just need to have my contact somewhere, for possible professional reasons, then Linked is the place. If you want to see the picture of the bbq last night with my mother in-law dissing my cooking skills, well... that's just for friends..that were likely at the bbq.

    It really bothers me when people that I met once (clients, or professional contacts) add me to FB. I immediately decline, and follow with a Linked in invitation. So..yes, you do need it, no we can't just do FB. They are 2 different things.

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  3. Agree: LinkedIn is different. Professional contacts and info and recruiting and all that.

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  4. Okay, fine, fine, I'll do linked in. Funny - I'm friends on fb AND linkedin with all of you.

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  5. So before it's time. I think it was one of the earlier shows to really start playing around with meta humour so my homework. Like that episode where George and Jerry are trying to pitch a TV show, and it's essentially Seinfeld they pitch.

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  6. So before it's time. I think it was one of the earlier shows to really start playing around with meta humour do my homework. Like that episode where George and Jerry are trying to pitch a TV show, and it's essentially Seinfeld they pitch.

    ReplyDelete