Several weeks ago, I questioned why the community of Workforce Development professionals did not appear to be in tune with the explosion of social networking that was prevalent in many other professions with which I interact on a regular basis. In the ensuing period, I think I’ve answered my own question.
What I’ve learned is that there is no way to test the digital waters. It’s a lot like skydiving in that you can’t jump part way to the ground. Immersive actually turns out to be a very good descriptor of the entire suite of networking tools. Immersion…as being plunged into until completely covered.
LinkedIn was my entry point to this world. What an exciting tool. It greatly simplified the task of keeping up with all my contacts as they changed jobs and started new projects plus it added the additional benefit of a geometrical extension of my network by displaying the contacts of my contacts, as well as their contacts. It basically amounts to sort of a pyramid scheme for expanding your connections. Once started, it got kind of addictive. First, I would check it in the evenings, then more often to see who was connecting to whom, what new invitations I had received, who had responded to my invitations, etc. I was beginning to feel much more a part of the digital culture, when the complications began to arise. My LinkedIn contacts sent me Facebook invitations, Twitter soon followed. Friends linked me to their presentations on Slideshare (which required another account). I discovered that I had to upload my pictures to Flikr, so they could be shared and how could I possible resist checking out the latest and greatest links on Del.icio.us? Social networking was becoming a time consuming venture. Each night brought new discussions, forum questions, tweets about nothing in general and access to more written and visual material, news items and opinions than I could reasonably consume. I had reached the point of immersion. My instinct for self-preservation told me that I was going to have to focus my efforts and prioritize if I was going to survive in the social network jungle. I had to rethink the value proposition from a career perspective. Clearly there was something unique about social networking that had supported their proliferation. But beyond the entertainment value (and that was significant) how could these networks be utilized to achieve maximum benefit? What types of communication could be enhanced by the use of these technologies and, equally important, where would our efforts to use them prove fruitless?
I had arrived at the point of digital overload and discovered that I was not alone. I wonder how many of the social media contacts that seldom respond or participate in online dialogues are standing at that same crossroad, intrigued by the idea of social networking but unable to effectively integrate it into their real world work life. NEXT: Social Media – Reasonable Expectations
What I’ve learned is that there is no way to test the digital waters. It’s a lot like skydiving in that you can’t jump part way to the ground. Immersive actually turns out to be a very good descriptor of the entire suite of networking tools. Immersion…as being plunged into until completely covered.
LinkedIn was my entry point to this world. What an exciting tool. It greatly simplified the task of keeping up with all my contacts as they changed jobs and started new projects plus it added the additional benefit of a geometrical extension of my network by displaying the contacts of my contacts, as well as their contacts. It basically amounts to sort of a pyramid scheme for expanding your connections. Once started, it got kind of addictive. First, I would check it in the evenings, then more often to see who was connecting to whom, what new invitations I had received, who had responded to my invitations, etc. I was beginning to feel much more a part of the digital culture, when the complications began to arise. My LinkedIn contacts sent me Facebook invitations, Twitter soon followed. Friends linked me to their presentations on Slideshare (which required another account). I discovered that I had to upload my pictures to Flikr, so they could be shared and how could I possible resist checking out the latest and greatest links on Del.icio.us? Social networking was becoming a time consuming venture. Each night brought new discussions, forum questions, tweets about nothing in general and access to more written and visual material, news items and opinions than I could reasonably consume. I had reached the point of immersion. My instinct for self-preservation told me that I was going to have to focus my efforts and prioritize if I was going to survive in the social network jungle. I had to rethink the value proposition from a career perspective. Clearly there was something unique about social networking that had supported their proliferation. But beyond the entertainment value (and that was significant) how could these networks be utilized to achieve maximum benefit? What types of communication could be enhanced by the use of these technologies and, equally important, where would our efforts to use them prove fruitless?
I had arrived at the point of digital overload and discovered that I was not alone. I wonder how many of the social media contacts that seldom respond or participate in online dialogues are standing at that same crossroad, intrigued by the idea of social networking but unable to effectively integrate it into their real world work life. NEXT: Social Media – Reasonable Expectations
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