Going into reputation together
I've been podcasting with my friend Bridget for about two years now. We were friends before we started podcasting and despite dining out together together several times a week and arguing to agreement about area restaurants, we're still friends. We thought about a lot of things when we started, including using our real names and e-mail addresses. Transparency and openness were important considerations, particularly since we were venturing into the realm of restaurant reviews. Chicago Bites is an amateur effort so credibility was and is still key.
What we didn't think through at the time is how our on-line reputations are now intertwined and how that in turn affects our professional lives. When either of us applies for a job or shows up in search results, the other shows up. It's happened. Bridget's not a detriment to my on-line reputation by any stretch of the imagination, but that tie and future ties need to be thought through.
I was thinking about this today when my boss asked me for details about Linked In. All of a sudden, I'm faced with the question of whether or not to include my boss in my professional network. Up until this point, I've counted on the lack of curiosity and involvement by management in social networking, and it looks like that luxury is going away. It's a success in a way, but still...
Among the pluses are gaining access to another network. However, there's also a lack of flexibility in being as open in a job search through this network (my e-mail address is hiretammygreen AT gmail DOT com) and not being as open about the on-line resources I've established (even though they're a Google search away).
So I'm taking some time and trying to decide whether to make this connection between us explicit. What have others done? Do you let your boss in?
What we didn't think through at the time is how our on-line reputations are now intertwined and how that in turn affects our professional lives. When either of us applies for a job or shows up in search results, the other shows up. It's happened. Bridget's not a detriment to my on-line reputation by any stretch of the imagination, but that tie and future ties need to be thought through.
I was thinking about this today when my boss asked me for details about Linked In. All of a sudden, I'm faced with the question of whether or not to include my boss in my professional network. Up until this point, I've counted on the lack of curiosity and involvement by management in social networking, and it looks like that luxury is going away. It's a success in a way, but still...
Among the pluses are gaining access to another network. However, there's also a lack of flexibility in being as open in a job search through this network (my e-mail address is hiretammygreen AT gmail DOT com) and not being as open about the on-line resources I've established (even though they're a Google search away).
So I'm taking some time and trying to decide whether to make this connection between us explicit. What have others done? Do you let your boss in?
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NaNoWriMo
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This is a very good question and should be answered on a case-by-case basis. Ultimately, you have to evaluate how you use Linked In and why it's valuable to you. Given your e-mail address, you obviously use it as a way to job search. Do you also use it to network? To learn? To aggregate information? All of the above?
Answering questions like these help me decide who should be in my network and who shouldn't be. The funny thing is, I usually don't think of this stuff when I first sign up for a social networking site. Instead, I look for everyone I know just to get started. Sometimes I end up with a pretty weird mix of folks from various parts of my life as a result, and I'm still trying to figure that out. I weed the list as I use a tool more. Still, I try not to trim too much to leave room for serendipity.
I don't think that simply linking to someone on a social networking site means you are endorsing them. You're saying, "Yeah, I know you." That's it. Also, just because someone can see who is in your online network doesn't mean they can leverage it like you can.
If someone finds me online, fine. But I don't just hand it to them. In fact, T, I think I learned that technique from you!
Tammy,
this is a great post. Last year I decided I wanted to leave my (then) current employer. It took a while to make it happen. All along I had to juggle the disclosure aspects of my network. My LinkedIn network was almost exclusively coworkers. That really limited the amount of networking I could do on the tool. The experienced principle was: The most restrictive segment of my network governed the functioning of most of my network.
I ended up having to so some special things to create separate networking spaces so I could function effectively in Job Search mode.
I want to dig into those processes and discoveries on my blog here pretty soon. It was quite a networking experience to do the job search thing. I think I learned a lot about networking.
Dennis Stevenson
blogs.ittoolbox.com/cio/original-thinking
@Dennis Thanks for dropping by! Yes, it's interesting to note where your Linked In network comes from. I try very hard to include people beyond my organization -- a 50/50 ratio is what I shoot for. This of course means I have to keep networking and getting to know people outside of my comfort zone. It's a great motivator now that I think about it.