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Social Media Creep

08 Apr 2010
Stephen O'Donnell
7
Networking, rant, recruiters network, recruitment agency, social media

No not you, and I hope not me.  I’ll try and keep this short, as there are already way too many blog articles discursively annotating the onward march of the social media phenomenon.  Pop is indeed eating itself.

In my view, the Network Effect, that is the key to the success of Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter, has an optimum saturation point, which is way below 100%.  Moreover, each of these channels is ill prepared for practical use beyond a certain point.

I use social media for a variety of reasons, which also include the dreaded “personal branding”.  I want more people to know what I’m like, what I do, and have a direct route to contact me.  The “Brand” these days, whether personal or corporate, has to be three dimensional, and authentic.  Whatever you project must be truly stamped through you, like a stick of Blackpool rock.  The concept of a brand as a veneer is dead, but don’t we want to maintain a veneer for public/ business, and save the real stuff for closer friends and family?  I know I do, and I’m an open book.

Up until now, there has been an ad hoc and tacit agreement that, amongst us lot anyway, LinkedIn and Twitter are used for business (in that order) and that Facebook is reserved for “Me Time”.  Here’s the news; people are resisting, but Social Media Creep is eroding Facebook.  Business associates inevitably hook up on FB if they are also friends, but what if Eddie is more friends with me than I am with him?  What if he is only friends because he wants to do business?  If I connect to Eddie’s colleague, who is a real friend, Eddie will feel rejected if I er … reject him.  So being nice guys, we all end up connecting to anyone who asks.  LinkedIn used to be really strict in their policies on this, because connecting to 25,000 others actually negates the benefits of a network of real contacts.  Otherwise you may as well use the phone book.

Right then smarty-pants, what’s your big idea?  OK, I’ll tell you; it’s not new, but I believe the time has definitely come for layered network connections.  I want to be able to have a hierarchy of networks, where an inner circle can be invisible to all other connections.  If I’m a recruiter, I want my employer clients to be able to view my many business connections, but not those candidates I have been cultivating.  I want to be able to connect to other recruiters, who are both friends and rivals, and decide what level of access they have to my connections.  I know many people maintain several different accounts on FB, Li, and Twitter, but that just becomes too confusing, and is impossible to manage.

So I say it’s time the big three got a little more sophisticated and gave us the tools to do this.  One last request; can you make it idiot-proof too please?

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About the Author
Stephen O'Donnell is a lifelong recruiter, internet enthusiast, fadgadget and peripatetic writer.
  • James Mayes

    It's a fair point you make there Stephen. The only solution I have so far for business colleague approaches on Facebook is to accept, but stick to Limited Profile access only. Sorry, my holiday snaps aren't for everyone!

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  • felixwetzel

    Stephen, for me, Facebook is private. Drawing the line is part of your brand and your principles your brand is build on. So it is absolutely fine to re-direct business friends to your business accounts.
    I like your idea but wonder if it really matters as nobody from the outside really knows who's part of your inner circle.

  • petergold99

    Stephen

    I think we will continue to keep them separate. What I where for work is no good for what I do outside of work (unless a funeral or wedding is in the offing). Same with conversations, language etc IMO. We may of course end up with a simple tool (smart phone maybe) where we write/type something then decide who it goes to, in which format and from which of my profiles.

    That's my view anyway. And I'll just share this on Twitter as my F's on FB couldn't give a shit (that's what they'd say hence the use of shit!!)

    Peter

  • Louise Triance

    Stephen

    I like the idea of layered connections. I would prefer to use Facebook just for personal – but am being pushed (or is it pulled) towards using it for business too. I only use LinkedIn for business and Twitter is a bit of both. However, with Tweetdeck I can “layer” my contacts so that I can view different types of tweets at different times. Of course – that doesn't stop ALL my connections having to read tweets about what I had for lunch though!

    Louise

  • Stephen O'Donnell

    Surely Linkedin and Facebook must be considering layered connections and networks? I'd be shocked if they weren't.

  • Stephen O'Donnell

    Surely Linkedin and Facebook must be considering layered connections and networks? I'd be shocked if they weren't.

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