Spending most of my life in the “Bible Belt”, the Southern part of the U.S. where people will routinely seek council with clergy to gauge the appropriateness of topics ranging from gay marriage to salad bars on Sundays, I have experienced the judgment of others for years.
One lady from my church has a low opinion of Walt Disney because, and I quote, “The movie Beauty and the Beast promotes bestiality”. I didn’t realize she was serious until I responded with “Yeah and thanks to that, I have to take a cold shower after watching 101 Dalmatians“.
She was not amused.
We go to another Sunday School Class now.
Another member, while teaching in our new Sunday School class, shared her opinion on several heavy topics. The overall theme of her position was that as long as people shared her beliefs they would be welcome into heaven, but if they didn’t, off to hot place they would go.
When I asked if that was a bit of a prejudice point of view, her reply was:
“I am not prejudice, I love all people who think just like I do.”
“Oh”, was my reply. Sometimes, blog entries practically write themselves.
People judge. We all do.
On a professional level, right or wrong, I judge people by how effectively they network.
Is it just me or if you find someone on Linkedin and they have 5 contacts and no profile information, you wonder how effective they really are in their professions?
A person lays claim to a world-class Rolodex yet they can not be found by Google or any of the networking sites? Hmmmm?
A person brags about how they are on the leading edge because they own an iPhone, but don’t understand the power of specialty networks such as Inquisix or Naymz?
Have you stopped to wonder why the founder of www.facebook.com is a Billionaire (thats with a “B”)?
Its pretty simple. Generation X and Y have grown up in an age of information overload. We are the people that throw out the junk mail unopened or ignore the phone call from the “unknown number”. We have been conditioned to filter out the irrelevant.
Networks, especially professional networks, are evolving into filters. Linkedin was my first and still is my primary network. Its more open in nature in that the standards for joining another members network are pretty low. I’ll be honest, of my 200+ contacts, I really know about half. However others sites are becoming more strict, and thus stronger filters, for networking.
Notice with Inquisix that you have to establish your online identity via your profile, state why you want to connect with another person, and then that other person has to want to connect with you. This eliminates the “network trolls” you will find on other sites, and adds to the overall strength and trust in the network.
In Naymz, they explicitly ask “Do You Know This Person?”, “Are they trustworthy?”, etc. Very strong.
Longer Term you will have the ability to build a single online profile one for personal, one for professional, and have it update the networks automatically.
Until then, treat your online profile like your “brand”. Keep it fresh and relevant. Assume that your prospective clients and employers will be reading it.
Good Luck
2 responses so far ↓
Tim Wilson // April 2, 2008 at 7:36 am |
As usual, your posts are good for a chuckle as well as some thought-provocation.
The portability of our data is going to be a tough nut to crack, in part because of the different “brands” we present to different people. It’s going to require both a societal shift as well as adequate supporting technology. For instance, while many people are happy to share their sexual orientation, marital status, religious beliefs, and political affiliation with their personal friends, many of these attributes of a person’s “profile” are taboo in a professional environment. So, how much should a person expose of this on his Facebook profile? In his blog? Ratchet back the information too much, and you lose many of the anecdotes/personality that help establish connections. Share absolutely everything, and you alienate some people before you even have a chance to make a connection. It’ll be interesting.
trish bertuzzi // April 2, 2008 at 5:31 pm |
Okay, so now you made me think. I went to my profile in Linkedin and do I love it? No… so now I have to go away and think about how to articulate what I want the LI community to understand about me and my business. I need to build my brand in a short and concise manner. Thanks for the thought provoking post.