Confession: Apparently I’ve been being a bad boy on LinkedIn. Though there’s no rules committee for how to use social media, there are cultural expectations. Chris Brogan and several others have convinced me that there is a better way to use LinkedIn.
The big three of social media for me are: Twitter, my blog, and someplace to house video. I have a presence on about 50 different social media platforms, but my big three get most of my attention. My Twitter stream is tied to nearly all the rest. Not every tweet goes to LinkedIn, but a lot of them do.
So far, LinkedIn has not been a destination site for me. It’s a closed system that doesn’t make sharing outside the system easy, so I don’t go there often, but I do send information there often.
It seems there are many who do see LinkedIn as a destination site—a very special destination site. Here are the special attributes of LinkedIn:
- LinkedIn is a unique cultural setting: Viveka von Rosen, who is LinkedInExpert on Twitter, says “LinkedIn is a different social media culture.” LinkedIn users tend to be professionals who are serious about business connections. If social media were school levels, LinkedIn would be grad school. (I’ll let you decide what’s high school, grammar school and kindergarten.)
- LinkedIn users have fairly well-defined expectations: Kammy Burleson, who is ynotweb on Twitter, values LinkedIn’s “low noice-to-signal ratio,” and suggests LinkedIn users expect to find only job/work/career related content there. Facebook may be more about friends (maybe Facebook isn’t a school level; maybe it’s recess, but with an overbearing school marm), and Twitter may be about everything under the sun and beyond, but LinkedIn is BUSINESS!
- LinkedIn users can easily mute someone: Chris Brogan notes that not only is it easy to mute someone on LinkedIn, it’s quite easy to leave them muted FOREVER. So, if you ever want to be noticed on LinkedIn, it’s probably best to avoid the things that get you muted.
So what are the lessons for me?
- I’ll seriously throttle back my Tweets-to-LinkedIn ratio. Now I probably post about 15 to 20 tweets a day to LinkedIn; tomorrow, maybe just 1 or 2.
- I’ll ponder the biggest “aha” a little longer—the cultural distinctions between social media platform. It seems like Facebook is the playground where already-known friends hang out together; Twitter is the world bazaar; and LinkedIn is for getting work done.
Craig McGill sums it up well, “make sure tweets that go to LinkedIn are relevant to worklife and aren’t personal.”
What do you think?
{ 15 comments }
LinkedIn: the business suits where everyone has to be just a little impressed with themselves and pretend that the marketing they're doing isn't really happening. Marketing happens in the back room where no one is exchanging endorsements. ::wink::
Facebook is the club where your social friends are and some of them are interested in your wares.
Twitter is the ongoing mixer, where you meet some cool people and also walk away from a few. It's also like the Science Fair or Biz Expo where you can show off the cool things you've found.
MySpace is posters on the wall of your kid's room.
Great followup on the Brogan article. I never thought I'd be 'hiding' from any of my contacts in LinkedIn, but some people haven't learned. Glad you are now enlightened!
I'll be reminding my followers about cross-posting etiquette on #TwitterTip Tuesday.
I look at LinkedIn as more of the “gated community” of the social media universe. But not necessarily the gated community that everyone is trying to get into.
The prevalence of application development for Facebook, Twitter and other sites far, far, surpasses anything that is being created for LinkedIn. No one that I know of is designing desktop clients or iPhone apps (like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck) specifically for LinkedIn.
In my opinion, there is an air of aristocracy in the creation of LinkedIn. A kind of “do I *KNOW* you?” mentality that actually prevents real connections with people simply because there is no direct connection with someone.
If I were to move into a new town and was looking to network and build professional connections with people, LinkedIn would be one of the LAST places I would visit.
That being said, I use the Hootsuite application to create, manage, monitor and even schedule in advance a large percentage of my social media interactions. I have “tabs” for my personal Facebook page, my business Facebook fan page, my personal and business Twitter accounts, my Foursquare account, and my LinkedIn account.
I do not typically post the same message to every account and the only cross-post application that I have in place is *FROM* the FB fan page *TO* the business Twitter account (sometimes the message is just too long for 140 characters and FB creates their own short url to link back to the FB post when it sends the update to Twitter).
Nice post Trey, as always.
I describe Linkedin to people as a Chamber speed networking event, a good way to target and follow companies and people I'm interested in doing business with. And a lot of local professionals who aren't on other services are on Linkedin. Think of it like an electronic BNI. It's great for sales people doing research on prospects as well.
In my mind, Twitter is more like a conference hallway/cocktail party, while Facebook as a back yard BBQ feel.
Or as Jay Bear says: Linkedin is for current contacts. Facebook is for former contacts, and Twitter is for future contacts.
Or if you're a Lost fan: Linkedin is like a flash sideways, Facebook is like a Flashback, and Twitter is flash forward.
Ok, I'll quit with the analogies. You get the point.
Thanks,
Patrick
@Garmoe
I like the truncated statement that is based on Reid Hoffman's comments in this article. “LinkedIn is the office, Facebook is the backyard BBQ, and MySpace is the bar.”
http://techcrunch.com/2009/02/02/linkedins-reid...
Love it! More! More!
Analogies aid understanding, increase sharability, too.
I like the “gated community” analogy here.
On the other hand, I am also very involved in a very nice-type of social media. Several of us have needed to gently and kindly remind people to not connect their five-times-a-day Twitter account to the front page of that service. ::shrug:: I guess there's just a learning curve.
Trey
Sharing information to your groups that has depth, insight and meaning is key. Attention needs to be earned; still too many people are using LinkedIn to hosepipe people with their latest gizmo or offering. The one No NO for me is to encourage people not to keep tweeting across LinkedIn. One guy keeps sending at least 20-30 tweets a day and it really annoys folks. Keep it clean and to the point. Also, start using LinkedIn on email addresses and your business cards. It is not a substitute for a website but it is a good platform to showcase the brand called You (thanks Tom Peters for that seminal article in 1997).
Regards
Julian
ROFLMAO, ok I like the gated community the best so far. Not sure I can come up with anything to top that one.
I do know to NOT connect my twitter with linkedin, so I apologize for not warning you Trey. I thought you knew better, giggle.
Connecting Twitter with Linkein is like having to drag your kid brother with you to the prom. Wrong atmosphere, annoying and everyone is saying “SHUT him up already”
I also have to say that the school analogy could get us all in trouble, grad school?, giggle.
I have learned to serve the meal at Linkedin the way they like to eat. Slowly and respectfully. Now back to twitter where we can share a laugh, have a drink while working…my kind of work environment (bohemiam gal I am giggle)
I agree. LinkedIn is the online version of working the room, and you're professional when you do that, right? I used examples from my own LinkedIn connections' updates in a seminar, and the crowd erupted in laughter, although many of the offenders were in the audience.
LinkedIn ranks so high in searches that it's usually on the first page of results, so people regularly check you out there, and they're expecting a professional face. You only have one chance to make a first impression, so why would you not want it to be a solid demonstration of the benefit you can offer them? Your status is one of the first things they see. It's a marketing opportunity.
Also, please keep in mind that most of the people on LinkedIn are not regular Twitter users, so they don't understand it as a communications tool. Tweets usually just don't fit on LinkedIn. The underlying strategies of the two tools are different. Effective Twitter use usually involves building relationships and sharing, not selling. LinkedIn's core advantage is in providing a platform to sell the benefits you have to offer. You should be using your status updates to educate, whereas if you do that on Twitter, you often get unfollowed.
I didn't realize my “Gated Community” metaphor would resonate with so many people.
I'm a simple guy. I like simple things. Really I'm quite boring when you get right down to it and I tend to scoff a people who try to place themselves upon a pedestal.
A friend of mine refers to that mentality as “They've got more S.T.A.T.U.S. than sense” (Simply Too Arrogant To Understand Success).
Totally agree. It gets me up the wall a bit when people add me on facebook from my twitter profile. I view them as follows:
Twitter: finding and engaging through shared interests
LinkedIn: professional contacts only
Facebook: personal connections (IRL) only
Wordpress: platform to share myself with the world and attract like-minded individuals (http://arturnbull.wordpress.com)
2009 and it's already dated
Is Twitter the new bar?
I really like this Trey – I, like you spend less time on LinkedIn than some of the other sites, its something I mean to rectify soon. Thanks for the tips – I've taken them on board.