Yesterday I reviewed the latest updates of my LinkedIn connections, after a busy period of not checking in.
I noticed that many people had written a brief update over the past two weeks. Some had written daily updates. Others had published several updates each day.
Whose do you think I read?
I read the first update each person published, so for the people who included just one update, I read their comments closely. I was delighted to learn that a client was working on retail training and had traveled to Texas to do so. I liked feeling in the know about his work.
For those who published more than one update, I read the first couple of them if I could understand them. However, if they had written a few cryptic words and added a link, I did not bother. I didn't have time to chase down information that might or might not be of interest. If their second or third updates were compelling, I read them. But I confess wondering whether their work had slowed down so they had nothing else to do, or whether they were avoiding the next big project by typing online.
For those who published over and over–sometimes several times in an hour–I quickly ignored their updates. I considered deleting constant updaters from my connections if they were people I don't know well.
Am I antisocial? Or as a baby boomer, do I just not understand the need to connect constantly?
LinkedIn is a professional network, so these are business connections. I am certain that none of them would call me or email me several times a day to update me on their business lives. So why do they update their network connections that often with talk about meaningful quotations, great articles, the latest news in politics, the next workshop, and the weather where they live?
Call me a curmudgeon, but for me less is more. If you write to me once a month or even once a week and share a meaningful bit of inspiration or information, I am eager for it. But if you update me several times a day with that same information, it becomes meaningless, just another drip drip drip in a constant rain of information.
My situation may be atypical because I had not checked LinkedIn for a couple of weeks. Had I visited every day, the updates would have come in a manageable stream rather than a flood. Still, does a steady stream of information communicate as much as a reflecting pool?
Perhaps my water theme just fell apart with that last metaphor. Like much that comes along in social media, maybe it was too much of a good thing.
Are your professional social media outlets happily social? Or do they come across as frantic, too much of a good thing? Please share your honest views.
Lynn
Syntax Training