1. Thou shalt not spam thy friends.
2. Thou shalt not be LinkedIn with coworkers, for LinkedIn has replaced most job sites for recruiting. Social network with thy coworkers around the large container that dispenseth water.
3. Thou shalt think twice before being Facebook Friends with coworkers, clients, and prospects. And definitely think thrice before posting photos and videos of thee in that club in Cancun with the beer bong.
4. Thou shalt not network under a corporate name, for silly rabbit, social networks are for humans!
5. Thou shalt be thyself as much as possible on social networks, for if thou art false, it shall be evident, and thy friends shall un-friend thee with the quickness.
6. Thou shalt help thy friends in appropriate networks meet and help each other as much as possible, for that is the whole point of doing social networks at all.
7. Thou shalt unsubscribe from any social network that thou hast not updated in the past thirty days, for thy time is not unlimited.
8. Thou shalt refrain from ad hominem attacks in debates that inevitably arise in any social networks worth a damn, unless thou truly means to simply trash and flame another person.
9. Thou shalt venture outside thy circle from time to time, for a social network that ceases to grow might be one that is headed unto death.
10. Thou shalt have fun on thy social networks, for all work and no play makes Jack a psychotic murderer who freezes unto death.
-rsh
28 thoughts on “My Ten Commandments of Social Networking”
NICE!!!! We so need these. Realtors are most guilty of violating them. I HATE being invited to real estate groups in other states – strike that – I HATE being invited to real estate groups in general. Also- nobody cares about your open house – you are not getting traffic from Facebook or Twitter to it! Figure SM out and use the brain God gave you. Be a HUMAN being – use lifestreaming – don’t call yourself a SM guru/God/Jesus/Svengali (makes you seem tarded). Here’s a tip – just like in life – sharing and interacting are key – So, share great info you find on Digg/Delicious etc. Interact with people – don’t shout at them.
NICE!!!! We so need these. Realtors are most guilty of violating them. I HATE being invited to real estate groups in other states – strike that – I HATE being invited to real estate groups in general. Also- nobody cares about your open house – you are not getting traffic from Facebook or Twitter to it! Figure SM out and use the brain God gave you. Be a HUMAN being – use lifestreaming – don’t call yourself a SM guru/God/Jesus/Svengali (makes you seem tarded). Here’s a tip – just like in life – sharing and interacting are key – So, share great info you find on Digg/Delicious etc. Interact with people – don’t shout at them.
2. Thou shalt not be LinkedIn with coworkers, for LinkedIn has replaced most job sites for recruiting. Social network with thy coworkers around the large container that dispenseth water.
Major fail here for me, but I’m not sure I understand the consequences.
How does one actively use LinkedIn to job seek? More specifically, how does a user “tip her hand” that she’s job searching? I get the fact the connecting alone lends itself to easy communication between prospective employers and employees, but to me the benefit of having my employees and colleagues be linked in online outweighs the potential costs of losing them.
Keep in mind that I am naive in believing that we should all be improving our online profile, so I would think nothing of an employee or colleague updating their LinkedIn profile or adding connections — I’d even encourage it — so outside of that, what are the fears?
2. Thou shalt not be LinkedIn with coworkers, for LinkedIn has replaced most job sites for recruiting. Social network with thy coworkers around the large container that dispenseth water.
Major fail here for me, but I’m not sure I understand the consequences.
How does one actively use LinkedIn to job seek? More specifically, how does a user “tip her hand” that she’s job searching? I get the fact the connecting alone lends itself to easy communication between prospective employers and employees, but to me the benefit of having my employees and colleagues be linked in online outweighs the potential costs of losing them.
Keep in mind that I am naive in believing that we should all be improving our online profile, so I would think nothing of an employee or colleague updating their LinkedIn profile or adding connections — I’d even encourage it — so outside of that, what are the fears?
BTW, great topic and post. Should I have started with that first? 😉
BTW, great topic and post. Should I have started with that first? 😉
“Thou shalt think twice before being Facebook Friends with coworkers, clients, and prospects.”
I actually dont agree with this as long as you put people on limited profiles. For example, the local realtors cant read my wall or see my friends/clients, and you can block certain people from seeing your incriminating photos ( I’m past the college party days so no worries there).
I view it as a positive for my clients/prospects to see wall posts from other realtors from across the country about having attended my tech panel, etc. My friends/clients only know me locally and many dont know what I do nationally so it adds a new dimension.
Rob, I dont understand what you mean by not having co-workers as your linked in friends as it pertains to a job search. If you’re looking for a job, can your co-workers see that you’ve posted that?
“Thou shalt think twice before being Facebook Friends with coworkers, clients, and prospects.”
I actually dont agree with this as long as you put people on limited profiles. For example, the local realtors cant read my wall or see my friends/clients, and you can block certain people from seeing your incriminating photos ( I’m past the college party days so no worries there).
I view it as a positive for my clients/prospects to see wall posts from other realtors from across the country about having attended my tech panel, etc. My friends/clients only know me locally and many dont know what I do nationally so it adds a new dimension.
Rob, I dont understand what you mean by not having co-workers as your linked in friends as it pertains to a job search. If you’re looking for a job, can your co-workers see that you’ve posted that?
Interesting (and, as always, entertaining) list…
Is #2 a defensive stance? Did you recently lose an Onboard employee to a corporate poacher who found them through a connection to you on LinkedIn?
If you have a coworker who also fits in the friend category, then no social networking with them?
I don’t agree with you on #3 for ALL Realtors. I think that Realtors whose primary business model is sphere of influence (aka social) farming, should definitely be on Facebook and be connecting with everyone they truely know. In my opnion, for a “social farmer” to not be on Facebook connecting with friends and prospects would be akin to telling them to quit the country club because the cocktail parties might expose some of their shenanigans…God forbid they get some business out of that!
Interesting (and, as always, entertaining) list…
Is #2 a defensive stance? Did you recently lose an Onboard employee to a corporate poacher who found them through a connection to you on LinkedIn?
If you have a coworker who also fits in the friend category, then no social networking with them?
I don’t agree with you on #3 for ALL Realtors. I think that Realtors whose primary business model is sphere of influence (aka social) farming, should definitely be on Facebook and be connecting with everyone they truely know. In my opnion, for a “social farmer” to not be on Facebook connecting with friends and prospects would be akin to telling them to quit the country club because the cocktail parties might expose some of their shenanigans…God forbid they get some business out of that!
ps…want to fix my typos for me? Hit submit a bit too early 🙂 Looking forward to the day when Wordpres puts spell check in the comments.
ps…want to fix my typos for me? Hit submit a bit too early 🙂 Looking forward to the day when Wordpres puts spell check in the comments.
Typos fixed! 🙂
“I actually dont agree with this as long as you put people on limited profiles. For example, the local realtors cant read my wall or see my friends/clients, and you can block certain people from seeing your incriminating photos ( I’m past the college party days so no worries there).”
See, I would call this “thinking twice” 🙂 You went through the trouble of filtering access. That’s smart.
As to LinkedIn, the answer is that everyone in corporate America assumes that folks are looking for a job when their LinkedIn activity picks up. Whether true or not, it causes rumormongering, suspicions, and so on. Just not worth it for people you see everyday or can chat with via intranet, etc.
-rsh
“…when their LinkedIn activity picks up.”
If you are on LinkedIn, you should always be building your profile and adding connections. Activity should always be “up”. I would give this career advice to anyone who works for me or with me.
“…when their LinkedIn activity picks up.”
If you are on LinkedIn, you should always be building your profile and adding connections. Activity should always be “up”. I would give this career advice to anyone who works for me or with me.
This might be my favorite post by you ever. Not just because it is short but it is poignant. I agree with much of it – almost all of it. I do think that you can connect with co-workers though – as long as you set up profiles for the different facets of your social life. My coworkers see different things then my college friends and vice versa. It just takes time and thought.
It is an interesting point you make about LinkedIn. The weird thing is that LinkedIn is a two way thing. I get invited by many clients and partners to join their network and I am not in the business of insulting those folks. I reach out and connect with clients and partners for any number of reasons. I don’t think any decent coworker/employer who knows how social networking works will read too much into it.
I mean, if my boss thought I was looking for a new job every time my LinkedIn activity went off then I would look like I am always looking for a new job. If you are a social networker, you are a social networker. To agree with number 5, you gotta be yourself right? I think what we need to do here is what you have set out to do in this post – teach people what social networking is and the underlying etiquette involved.
-PH
This might be my favorite post by you ever. Not just because it is short but it is poignant. I agree with much of it – almost all of it. I do think that you can connect with co-workers though – as long as you set up profiles for the different facets of your social life. My coworkers see different things then my college friends and vice versa. It just takes time and thought.
It is an interesting point you make about LinkedIn. The weird thing is that LinkedIn is a two way thing. I get invited by many clients and partners to join their network and I am not in the business of insulting those folks. I reach out and connect with clients and partners for any number of reasons. I don’t think any decent coworker/employer who knows how social networking works will read too much into it.
I mean, if my boss thought I was looking for a new job every time my LinkedIn activity went off then I would look like I am always looking for a new job. If you are a social networker, you are a social networker. To agree with number 5, you gotta be yourself right? I think what we need to do here is what you have set out to do in this post – teach people what social networking is and the underlying etiquette involved.
-PH
I’d love to grab this article and post it to FB. Would you consider putting an ‘AddThis’ button on your articles?
http://www.addthis.com/
I’d love to grab this article and post it to FB. Would you consider putting an ‘AddThis’ button on your articles?
http://www.addthis.com/
Sure! And feel free to grab the post — just credit me and provide a link back and we’re solid. 🙂
-rsh
Personally, I think that the original 10 Commandments work just fine for Social Networking. As a general rule, following those should keep your Social Networking experience a good one.
Hmmm. . .perhaps there is a blog post in there somewhere. 🙂
Personally, I think that the original 10 Commandments work just fine for Social Networking. As a general rule, following those should keep your Social Networking experience a good one.
Hmmm. . .perhaps there is a blog post in there somewhere. 🙂
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