This column strives to achieve some insight into “best practices” through some of Mike’s own worst practices. Every Tuesday he offers up the biggest mistakes, oversights, blunders and bonehead moves he commits in the fast-paced world of software-as-a-service, where he’s a Marketing Manager moonlighting as a Sales Account Executive (at the same company.) Perhaps, in the process, we may learn a thing or two.
I recently committed a bit of a networking faux pas, and I will, of course, share the embarrassing details with you in the spirit of opening up some discussion around the topic!
As an avid user of Web 2.0 tools in my social and professional spheres, there’s bound to be some spillover, right? I use Facebook as the primary means to connect with family and friends, LinkedIn to forge professional relationships, and Twitter to scour the web for potential business opportunities, industry news, and even job candidates. However, I’ve got a company page in Facebook, several friends from high school in LinkedIn, and complete strangers in Twitter. And LinkedIn. And, oddly enough, a few total strangers in Facebook, too. So how distinct are these networks, anyway?
I think there may be a line, though, and it is a little blurred – because I definitely crossed it.
As you well know by now, I am an avid Salesforce.com user, advocate and consultant. So I was on Facebook, and ran a general keyword search to see if there were any Salesforce-related Groups, Pages or contacts there that I could interact with. I found tons! Just about every local User Group had a Facebook Group to correspond, as well as Groups for Salesforce.com employees, consulting partners, etc. Naturally, I’d rather be connected than disconnected (”If you’re not first you’re last” -Ricky Bobby), so I started submitting requests to join relevant Groups.
Getting in touch with both customers and employees of Salesforce.com is one of the single most crucial aspects of my job right now, so I browsed through members of the groups. A good percentage I recognized as acquaintances, people I’ve had phone conversations with or met briefly at trade shows and small events. However, a few of them were individuals who I had met with and worked with on a fairly regular basis and felt I knew pretty well.
Throwing caution to the wind, I clicked “Add as Friend.”
Maybe this can only be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, because one of the individuals I added accepted my friend request. However, the other rejected the request, and a little while later I received an invitation from him to connect on LinkedIn. He acknowledged in the invite that “this was a more appropriate place for us to network.” I think he was totally right, and really gracious in his response. It didn’t completely relieve my humiliation and self-loathing – but it helped that he was more of a professional about it than I was.
The interweaving of the social and professional web presents some new territory in etiquette; clearly proven by my intuitive “guilty” response from breaking an unwritten rule. What are the hard and fast rules of networking anyway? Maybe I’m a n00b, or perhaps this is really a gray area for a lot of people. Can you go from mutual following on Twitter to 1st-Tier LinkedIn connection? Should Plaxo be used as a go-between, or can professionals network freely on Facebook, as long as Limited Profile is switched on?
Honestly, I don’t know the answer. I’m pretty sure I was in the wrong here, but I’d like to hear your comments and anecdotes that might shed some light on the subject. It’s OK – I swear I won’t stalk you.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good use of “n00b”, first of all.
Mike, I do not think you’ve done anything in the wrong. As social networking only continues to skyrocket, there will inevitably be a time when there is little distinction between the different online networking platforms. Sure, as of now, facebook is for fun, and LinkedIn is for business, and in “general” I would say it will stay that way, I just don’t think you’ve committed a “faux pas” here. It seems more likely that this gentleman you refer to in your article is a “true adult” and needs to lighten up a bit.
What a great post.
I am similarly finding the distinctions blurry. I tend to divide business (linkedin), personal (facebook) & chaos (twitter).
More often ppl are crossing the streams and I am forced to react. I try to use best judgment, but run the risk of offending the less rigid. Does that make me a n00bish-luddite?