Linkedin, You Tell Me…
April 7, 2008
Sigh, Linkedin Taxonomy...
The past few days I have been on a Linkedin spree. Having been remiss in updating my contacts, I finally went on the site and started adding away. Unlike Facebook, it’s imperative that you indicate how you know the person. While I get the logic of that, it’s just not working for me.
To illustrate this, I will use the example of my relationship with the fantastic Rob Cottingham of Social Signal (who received the request below and suggested I write a post on the subject). Rob writes for One Degree, and so do I. For months I saw and laughed at/with his cartoons about social media and read the Social Signal blog. In January of this year, I attended an event at HTCE at which he spoke and I introduced myself. The next month I saw him at Northern Voice where we chatted again. This month, I moderated a panel he was on.
So… er, “Other”, I guess …
‘Kay. I go through this process without about 50% of the people I know – we see each other frequently at events, have a good relationship online and off (though we don’t call each other to “hang” – and so the term “Friend” seems a bit presumptuous of me outside of Facebook). And so, out of desperation, I am forced to go with “Organization” and list the first event I met them at. Or the more vague, “Other”…
Anyone else experiencing this?
Entry Filed under: Linkedin, social media. Tags: Linkedin, Monica Hamburg, Rob Cottingham, taxonomy.
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1.
Jenn | April 7, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Yes, I’ve been in this position lots of times…they should add a ‘Business Acquaintance’ option.
2.
monicahamburg | April 7, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Thanks, Jenn. Good to know I’m not alone.
3.
Rob Cottingham | April 7, 2008 at 9:39 pm
So in an ideal world, here’s the menu:
- Personal friend
- Family member
- Colleague
- Business friend
- Partner (you’ve done business together)
- Members of an organization
- Blogging buddy
- Creepy high school acquaintance
- Can’t remember, too embarrassed to admit it
- Got drunk together at conference, messed around, not sure how far it went
- Got drunk together at conference, messed around, absolutely horrifically certain how far it went
- Someone who was willing to Digg my blog post
- Frequent teammate in flame wars
- Let’s face it, I don’t know them… but they’d be one hell of a trophy friend
4.
monicahamburg | April 8, 2008 at 7:02 am
I like! That covers most
“The can’t remember, too embarrassed to admit it” might be a way the person could peg them on the other end. I just got one the other day – have no idea if I know the person too embarrassed to ask (I am terrible with names).
I’d also add the following category: “I think this person is strange, but my friends are OK with him/her, so maybe it’s me… I guess I’ll accept.
5.
Kate Trgovac | April 11, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I would also add under “Partner”:
- Partner (we’ve done BIZNASS together)
Seriously though, I went through this exact same dilemma the other day – on both the giving and receiving ends. I got a request from someone who said they are a “colleague” .. which isn’t really accurate. Plus I had to do the ol’ “Other” to someone else.
Ugh.
Great post!
6.
Des Walsh | April 11, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Well caught! That is a terrible piece of design. Rob’s list is great although it does bring back some less than comfortable memories – and some quite hilarious in retrospect.
But back to the point: if you have a valid email for the person, the trick is to choose Other – which then allows you to enter their email and send the invitation, with or without a personal note (as one who gets and generally ignores lots of boilerplate invites to connect on LI, I strongly recommend a personal note).
7.
monicahamburg | April 11, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Thank you, Kate & Des. Good to hear you are both experiencing this! (Misery loves company). Kate, like your suggestion
and Des, I’m with you – I tend to send the email. You’re right, adding a personal note is a great idea – and one that I haven’t implemented enough. I have been avoiding that a bit, ’cause I figure if they don’t know who I am we shouldn’t be Linkedin contacts. But then again, as I mentioned before, I’m bad with names – perhaps I should assume others can be…
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