Are people developing good "social networking" habits?

This post is a call for discussion, though the topic is quite relevant as it relates to being more productive and using time wisely.

I'm not terribly savvy about "social networking" and by that I mean Plaxo, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc. I have a presence on a few of those resources, but I do virtually nothing with them. I've asked a few people to connect, mostly because the infrastructure of the system is set up to tell me that those folks already have a profile on a particular site and I may want to do so.

If someone asks me to connect, and I know them, I pretty much do, though sometimes it takes awhile for that task to get to the top of my to do list.

My impression of these resources is that they allow people who know each other to stay in touch. I can also see how they might be helpful if a person wanted to make a connection with a particular company and saw that someone they know has a connection with someone in that company. The person you know could make the warm connection to the person you'd like to meet.

So it seems to me that, at least on the business-oriented sites, who you decide connect with is vitally important if the network is to have any true value.

Linked-In, in particular, says...

"Thoughtfully select those people you know and trust because these are the people you will seek advice from and request a recommendation about your/other's quality of work. Because of this, the quality of your contacts is always more important than the quantity of contacts. It is important you know your connections because you may be asked to recommend one of your connections to another. If you know little about the connection you weaken the integrity of the recommendation and your network."

So here's where I get confused. I get often get connection requests from people I've never met! Seems to me that flies in the face of the whole purpose of the community.

Does this happen you? Why do you suppose people do this? (I have my ideas but I'd rather hear yours.) How do you handle it? Has it diminished your desire to use these networks? Have you had some good experiences or valuable opportunities as a result of connections you've made?

This discussion is relevant to time management and productivity because connecting on these sites requires at least a small amount of time.  And frankly it's the little bits of time that add up and erode productivity if not spent wisely.

 Let me hear from you.

Comments

[John E. Smith]

Hi, Mary - interesting question.

I'm active on LinkedIn, with a networking account on Plaxo and several specialized websites.

Your question is a great one, because it should make each of us consider how we choose to use any online networking site. Thomas has already given a great example of how to maintain a nice, clean business networking focus.

People request to connect to other people for some combination of reasons. I have received and/or sent requests to link based on these general reasons:

1) Personal - We went to school together or hail from same small town in Missouri and so on.

2) Professional 1.0 - I have something you need or you have something you want to sell me. This includes employment.

3) Professional 2.0 - We have similar interests or viewpoints. Maybe I like the way you answer questions or are fascinated by your business model.

4) Ego - I think that having a large number of contacts will make me appear successful and/or influential. I started out this way and abandoned it pretty quickly.

So, in my experience, people connect for all of these reasons - the trick is to analyze your own needs and decide which reasons are good enough for you to interact with someone else.

A critical next question relates to your expectations for interaction. I enjoy discussions which do not have to be connected to any business issue. This is why I have little need for those with over 500 links - that's just for bragging rights, in my opinion (see no. 4 above).

Because I do not always approach the online relationship as a transactional one (see no. 2 or 3 above),I feel pretty comfortable asking my Links about potential work or jobs. It's not the point of the relationship, just information within the relationship.

My Links range from ex-students from many years ago, co-workers and friends from places I have worked, current business colleagues, to a fair number of people who liked my comments during discussions in the Q&A section. So while I know some of my links on a personal basis, others are on the other side of the world and we have never met physically. Sort of like penpals:).

Like Thomas, if I do not know someone, I will check out their LinkedIn profile and any other websites, blogs, or whatever to get a better feel for who they are before accepting their request to Link.

Personally, I like having this array of people who I can communicate with and am pretty comfortable with accepting requests to link from folks, regardless of the business value to me.

Caveat: I would not use Facebook, MySpace or any of the other true "social" networking sites. I like Linkedin because it does have a business focus and describe it as "Facebook for Adults".

I look forward to seeing other's response to your question - thanks for asking it!

John

[Thomas Mannino]

I'm a recent linked-in member and I have found it a very useful networking tool for business. Taking the Linked-in suggestion of being careful of selecting links a bit further; I believe in keeping friends completely out of the network. Only business or potential business associates allowed. Personal friends allowed in a professional network have the same impact on effectiveness as SPAM e-mails do on your mailbox.

Secondly, I set up a second e-mail specifically for business networking. This allows me to not be interrupted during normal working hours, giving me the ability to network during off hours like lunch or before and after the work day starts.

Thirdly, when people you do not recognize have asked you to link-in, this is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you have limited your network to business only. I usually try to do as much due diligence as possible to find out who these people are, which one of my contacts they may be connected to, and will they be important to me in the future. Sometimes these people read a posting you may have on a group discussion board(similar to this one) and have decided that you are worthy of connecting to them.

Fourth and last, these networking sites will facilitate keeping you connected to your important business contacts, even if you switch careers, employers, websites, e-mails, or business locations. It also provides for a quick way to let your clients or potential clients know whats going on in your business.