Bored stiff yesterday afternoon, I decided to wade through my LinkedIn connections (I know: that bored). For months, I've been getting notifications saying that Jenny One-body has accepted my invitation. Jenny One-body? I've never heard of her, far less met her and got round to sending a digital invitation. What on earth must she think, getting the standard "I want to join your professional network" message from a woman she doesn't know from a mad dog? And even more strange, why is she saying yes? Hasn't she seen the my-money-my-info-I-don't-think-so ads on TV? Maybe not.
Conversely, I've been getting invitations from people I've never heard of, especially motivational speakers, digital marketing strategists, leadership coaches and the million and one other non-jobs that people have (although no Smart Exhibiting Account Managers yet. Perhaps there will be a modern version of the Green Shield stamps booklet that you complete whenever you collect a version of a new job and then use to exchange for something useful). Foolishly, I've occasionally said yes and one of two things have happened: nothing (what was the point of that) or a truly bizarre conversation opener has arrived.
One way and another I had arrived at 511 contacts, the usual motley collection of people you know well and connect with regularly in many ways, including seeing them face to face; colleagues you remember fondly from another time and place; all those people you met at a conference once, especially in the early days of, hold your breath, social media, where you all got over-excited; and then a whole slew of people that you don't know and can't remember how they got there.
Over the course of the afternoon I trimmed it down to 301 contacts. The "1" is bothering me, but I'm coming out of my comfort zone and leaving it there. What happened, I wondered, to the original idea of LinkedIn, where every one of your contacts is a known, trusted person? And if you saw that a person was listed as a contact of one of your contacts, that would work as a recommendation that this was a reliable, trustworthy, interesting person with expertise.
I've been thinking since about what I'm going to do about my 301 contacts. Am I going to try and develop the trusted network idea through starting a conversation with each one of them (would ten a day over the course of a month be manageable)? Will I continue to weed and hoe, noutishing my network through some well-written posts, a scattering of links, a funny comment here and there, a little gossip. Should I organise a low-key get together in the style of Tuttle or Creative Coffee Club?
This is what happens when you've made a mistake in your knitting and you're too tired to sort it out.
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