Director of Careers Service, John Watkins, is a fan of LinkedIn but is finding a few frustrations….
You cannot opt out of social media – it is a norm of the day.
Increasingly there is an understanding over the distinction between social networking, such as facebook, and more professional networking, such as LinkedIn. A few, such as Twitter, still do however sit somewhere uncomfortably across both.
LinkedIn has proved to be of great personal benefit in the past and I thoroughly enjoy seeing the updates of contacts as their careers progress and develop. A number of these lead to renewed interaction, sometimes on a personal level but also very much in a legitimate professional capacity.
I am beginning, though, to find a few annoyances.
Firstly, there are those contacts who go too far (in my view) with their advertising of opportunities. Of course, if I was looking for an opportunity I might be grateful, but I’d rather not be bombarded with countless posts such that I can scan for what seems like an eternity (more than 5 seconds) and see nothing but position and position advertised by the same connection. Aside from my own feelings, I also sense that this is a very untargeted and thus ineffective method of recruitment.
Secondly, the rise of witty cartoons with follow up wit by a rising number of observers. These are quite entertaining and hard to ignore, but they are more in the social distraction category than the serious professional network league. I may chuckle (thus boosting my personal morale) but have a sense of having wasted time in so doing.
I shall remain LinkedIn for now and do see major benefits. However, I am aware of a few full scale withdrawals and am increasingly cautious with my advice to new users about setting up and living the dream as once you are LinkedIn, it is pretty hard to Linkout…..
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