Elaine Fogel, a MarketingProfs Daily Fix blogger, has a great post today on social media rejection that features LinkedIn and social networking habits.
You can read Elaine’s post here.
There was a lot of discussion that ensued. Someone even suggested starting a social media therapy group. The two prominent school’s of thought took sides on how liberal one should be with allowing other’s into their professional network. One side suggested that associating with someone in a social media community implies an endorsement of that person’s character and professionalism.
The whole idea, IMHO, of social networking is to form authentic relationships. As such, I give people the benefit of the doubt. The relationship has to start somewhere.
Just by joining someone’s network, or friending them, or following them doesn’t imply a full fledged endorsement of their character or professional ability. If someone asks for a recommendation or reference or introduction, I can assess the degree to which I will accomodate this by how well I know the person and can always add that disclaimer (in not so many words) in the recommendation etc. Some companies, when asked for a background reference, will only acknowledge the dates which a former employee worked. The same mentality can be applied to personal references.
As I love the comparison between online and offline behavior, I wonder if this would be the same at a party or other in-person social event wherein I was only willing to talk to, or associate with, people that I already knew? I can’t imagine how many relationships that I have today (including my marriage) that would have never occured if I had employed this line of thinking.
What are your thoughts?
