
- Image by Tojosan via Flickr
Here’s something … to think about: stop importing your Twitter feed into LinkedIn indiscriminately. If LinkedIn is meant for business networking, what do you think these updates (pulled at random) are doing to help your business?
by Chris Brogan
Pet peeve of LinkedIn? This tops the list.
Recent updates to LinkedIn allowed importing Twitter tweets into LinkedIn status updates. Business value of status updates took a plummet.
Updating LinkedIn status required an intentional step until Twitter integration. Enabling dumping of tweets results in requests for help being replaced by retweets, random quotes, and out of context replies.
Relatively harmless? Not to your potential business.
Imagine that client interested in your services finds out you visited a gay bar and they’re staunch conservatives? Worse yet, imagine that reply to @violetblue, the notorious open sex blogger, and there goes Children’s Home client.
It’s not just pollution or spam; those tweets are smack in the face of LinkedIn users visiting your profile. Beyond that, those tweets appear in update emails.
LinkedIn might be more than business and networking contacts to you, for many though it’s exactly that, a place to find like minded folks to connect and do business with. Most are not interested in your non-work habits more than on a cursory level. This exposure to more could be a turn off.
Risked as well is brand damage. A brand is more than your resume. Branding yourself requires constant vigilance about how each thing you share in a public form fits in. Maybe folks won’t be offended that you’re a devil worshipper but if that’s not part of your brand or image, perhaps it’s better that come up after they hire you.
A recent incident happened right here in St. Louis where a worker was fired over the discovery she ran an explicit blog. Missouri employment law allows firing an employee without cause. It was an old link via her Twitter profile that got her nailed.
This could happen to you over something much more common place, such as attending demonstrations, speaking out against unions, or supporting abortion.
Transparency isn’t about sharing everything. It’s about being honest and open when it counts, in relationships, be they business or personal.
Go. Unlink Twitter from LinkedIn. Breathe easier.
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[...] Diluting LinkedIn with Twitter (toddrjordan.com) [...]
[...] I am especally honored that after mentioning this issues to Chris Brogan he wrote a blog post about it. See that post at: http://www.toddrjordan.com/thebroadbrush/2010/05/diluting-linkedin-with-twitter/ [...]