July 16, 2010 88 Comments

Lose Opportunities in LinkedIn

I’ll admit it. I’ve written about using LinkedIn effectively more than a few times. Very specifically, I’ve poked and poked about better LinkedIn usage. I’m writing this post because it further dawns on me that you might not be considering the ramifications of how you use your LinkedIn-to-Twitter connection. Because if I “hide” you, you’ll never get back in front of my eye.

So, if you’re using LinkedIn to put out the occasional business-minded status, I think people will watch them go by, even if a certain update doesn’t really apply to them. But if you frustrate someone with your Twitter cross-posts or your Foursquare updates, etc, you’re losing the chance, permanently, to influence people on this business network.

Take a look at the picture below. Some of the updates are great (especially after I hid 14 people). Others are going to convince me to hide them, too. And by “me,” you can see how active LinkedIn users will come to the same conclusion likely, right?

Is it worth losing opportunities to keep your Twitter tied to your LinkedIn, instead of using the selective #in tag?

linkedin updates

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

The Genesis Framework empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress. Whether you're a novice or advanced developer, Genesis provides you with the secure and search-engine-optimized foundation that takes WordPress to places you never thought it could go.

With automatic theme updates and world-class support included, Genesis is the smart choice for your WordPress website or blog.

Find out more about the framework features
Check out the Genesis demo and the wide variety of child themes
See example designs in the Genesis design showcase

Become a StudioPress Affiliate

Pingback: I’m A Twitter Outlier but OK, Tim Walker & Chris Brogan | MaureenBlandford
http://www.kherize5.com Suzanne Vara

I so agree with you as the Twitter stream pushed to LI is noise but yet for some easy. Hey I can multi-task and never visit the site … wow so much for paying any attention to your friends on LI and care about what they want. Then again, LI encouraged it. They told users to use the hashtag and integrated twitter with LI.

Sure we can say in this corner is LI and in that corner is Twitter (my feeble reference to boxing) and they are so different but yet the folks at LI want to bridge the gap and bring it all together. I am not a fan of the twitter being posted to LI as LI is a business platform. I respect the LI community and share business articles and engage people about what I post or they post about biz but I would never post a sports oriented twitter post that I do to twitter unless it was a part of a blog. Some may challenge that aspect but LI we communicate differently than we do on twitter

Hope this post send a message that we treat twitter and LI differently and hiding is an option. I “hide you” could be a driving factor to get people to get it (or a really funny vid with a jingle)

@SuzanneVara.
Juliansummerhayes

Great post; I wish people would turn off their Twitter feeds to LinkedIn. Just not the right platform for statues updates for 50+ Tweets across the course of the day.
thomsinger

Chris-

This is a pet peeve of mine. Why in the world do people link their feeds from Twitter, LinkedIn AND Facebook? They do it to make their own life easier (one post, lots of coverage)…NOT to make life easier for the people who are linked to them (aka, follow them, etc). I see the three social media tools as different (if they were the same, why would we need all three?).

If the people are connected to you for different reasons, why would you expect them to want the same kinds of posts in all communities? And if the same people ARE connected to you in more than one community… Why would they want to see the same post two or three times.

Like everything in life… if you want people to pay attention to YOU… do not take actions because they are better (or easier) for you…. take actions that are better for the other people. Think of what matters to others and they will love you for it. Think only about what matters to you and they will hate you for it.

Have a great day.

thom
http://www.mcgrawmarketing.com patmcgraw

Isn't it more about the relevancy of the message/content? Let's be honest, most messages won't cut through the clutter unless repeated and most people use 1 of these 3 channels are their primary channel so missing a post on Twitter but catching it on FB or LI depends on which one the individual uses as their course of communication.

Now, if someone is telling me they now follow Ebay, I look at it as an attempt to share personal interests in an attempt to develop that side of the relationship. But if my expectation is that I have a professional relationship with that person and the majority of that person's posts are 'Ebay-like', I lose interest because of the lack of relevancy. And if I get a nice blend of personal and professional, I tend to get a better, fuller understanding of the person so I am more likely to develop a stronger relationship.
Sandrina

I want people to start importing Twitter feeds selectively everywhere, not only on LinkedIn. I know it is easier and saves time but every social network is unique and has to be treated that way.
http://carlnatale.com Carl Natale

All my social networks are now separate. If I want to blast a message to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, I craft three messages. Each network has different audiences and I write to each. It's not that much work since I rarely want to update more than one at a time.
http://www.damiendonnelly.com Damien Donnelly

Your Twitter feed is public, so it should be assumed that any potential “opportunity” is going to check that anyway. Given the context that it is an integrated Twitter feed, I don't think that there is much of a problem with it just streaming though. If you treat your public persona different to your professional persona, then your worlds are going to collide pretty quickly.

This is different when it comes to Facebook.

Granted, being more selective with what you share through there is better, but if you want to sell yourself on authenticity, then living and breathing the things that you are passionate about and share publicly is a great way to breed opportunity, and in sectors that are not core to your profession. If you want to have a more targeted professional feed, then please read the WordPress widget from my blog (in Linked in).
http://linkedin.com/in/joesorge Joe Sorge

Chris, thanks for keeping a gentle paddle around to keep us in line. It's easy to consider LinkedIn to be another easy aggregator and use it that way, but I think you've proven that it works best as its own unique outpost.
chrissomers

Need to review our LinkedIn ! Am adding that to our weekend to do list. Thanks !
http://twitter.com/Intendance Intendance

Absolutely! I liken it to being like a one sided conversation. Especially if the person reading your feed isn't on Twitter, they're getting a whole lot of language which just makes no sense (Retweets, RT, FF to name just a few!)

I always recommend when I do LinkedIn training to think about your audience, engagement and how you are using these updates.
http://rickcaffeinated.com Rick Stilwell

I'm just finding out what LinkedIN might be able to do for us corporately and for folks looking to build real and useful networks in their employment paths. Good call on this one – I see some updates and wonder what the heck they were thinking…..
Douglas Schultz

I am so with you on this. People that link Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and whatever else really pollute their activity stream, particularly if you use each tool for a specific use and/or audience. I wish I could hide the status update for certain people in LinkedIn to get rid of some of the junk.
http://twitter.com/BTalisman Barbara Talisman

Chris as always an insightful post. I will share I find Hootsuite tremendously helpful in this. As you know it allows you to select the social networks you want to post. I don't allow any network to crosspost automatically, but select carefully where my messages go. And trying to remember and taking up space with #s is a pain for me. Been using LinkedIn forever, before all others and carefully guard all those professional peeps, groups I own and participate in. As I craft messages I think thoughtfully about the audience. Thanks again.
kiesha_WeBlogBetter

So are the check marks indicative of people you're planning to keep or hide?
anglersid

I think you're missing the point, somewhat. People don't have to behave like robots, twitter integration is intended to humanize digital communication, as much as to be used as a self-marketing tool. I would agree that Linked-In is one area where a person might want more than one twitter account, one for business/resume purposes, and another for personal tweets. I think, however, that letting prospective employers and business partners or associates see who one really is, by tweeting upon different subjects liberally can actually improve one's desirability in the market. Humans tire of robotic human behavior. Not everything needs to be dictated in marketing jargon.
anglersid

I honestly can't tell either.
http://yoursalesplaybook.com paulcastain

I'm with you 100% and would add that you also miss a ton of opportunities on Linkedin when you show up and don't get involved in discussions, asking and answering questions, connecting with people.

Oh, and you miss a ton of opportunities when you spam the groups and post infomercials.

Lots of ways to miss opportunities on Linkedin!

Thanks for the reminder!

Respectfully,
Paul Castain
http://randelldesign.com/ Randy Dunning

Thanks, Chris. Wasn't aware of this in the LinkedIn Twitter settings. Just found it and changed it. You've probably already hidden me, but at least I'm now CB compliant.

http://www.nice-sneaker.com Nice

Learning the method

http://biggsuccess.com georgekrueger

I have been guilty of this. For many of the reasons you and other commenters suggested, I just turned off my Twitter to LI and FB link within the last few weeks. Thanks for reinforcing that decision. Now I just have to make the time and develop the habit of getting to all three regularly.
http://twitter.com/SheilaStarkey Sheila Starkey

I totally agree! Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are all different platforms and should be utilized differently. Of course, blog posts, product and service promotions and publicizing events should be integrated throughout.
http://blog.luxem.org Doug Luxem

My recommendation for those that want to integrate Twitter and LinkedIn is to use the Tweets app on LinkedIn. You can put it on your public profile and then turn on the setting to display all tweets.

This way, if someone really wants to see what you are tweeting through LinkedIn, they can visit your profile page. The #in tag can still be used to cross-post relevant information to both sites if needed; however, I would recommend crafting unique messages for both networks. Use something like TweetDeck to avoid having to log in to multiple sites when posting those updates.
http://twitter.com/JosephBushnell Web Marketing Mentor

I need to make better use of LinkedIn for sure. Thanks for the reminder! I think it's true that LinkedIn really a totally different kettle of fish in comparison to other social spaces & does need to be handled slightly differently. I'll retweet this one

Joey
http://josephbushnell.com
kpage07

Between Twitter getting hooked up to both LinkedIn and Facebook, it seems like it is devaluing the social networks themselves if you can update it all through twitter. I think the networks need to stay separated for most posts, and just have the occasional one overlap.
Gary McIntire

Great point, Doug, and totally in tune with Chris' post. I only use the Twitter through LinkedIn strategy for my business and don't post tweets automatically onto LinkedIn. Another great thing about LinkedIn is its ability to categorize contacts, so correspondence sent to them can be far more focused than random tweets would be. And if information contacts receive is relevant and timely, they may just look forward to receiving it and will not “hide” the sender.
http://www.gillianpritchett.com/blog Gillian

Personally I only update my LI status with things that showcase me – like getting a teaching gig on the MBA program at Webster University or making a comment like “loving it back in in Europe, wouldn't say no to an assignment back here”. The majority of my tweets would add no value to someone on LinkedIn or add value to me. Thankfully only a few people in my network have linked Twitter and LinkedIn – I just I simply never read any of their status updates. I would hate to waste my time reading a tweet.
I should perhaps add that I am not an open networker on LinkedIn so with one or two exceptions I know personally for several years every one of my 225 contacts and the rare few I have not met I have had a great deal of contact with through email and facebook debates over the past few years.
http://www.gillianpritchett.com/blog Gillian

Great recommendaiton – I've done that. Unless you put #LI or something then the tweet does not show on LinkedIn.
One can also use Ping of course and select FB, LI, Twitter or any or all of these.
http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

Didn't you write about the very same thing recently?

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/keep-linkedin-clean/

Any particular reason for this “update”?
http://mydarabell.com/ Dara Bell

Great post. I think people are misundrstanding LinkedIn. It has the highest income of any social network users, more college graduates (there just bragging) and more people seeking networking. The last confirmed by the open networking going on here.

I like your example Tweets. The one of the unsecured loan was funny, as this is largely what started the housing crash.. Sometimes people just grab the shiny thing The Twitter Button. There is always an option to pause and think. How does impact my brand, how does the ecosystems operate. What is linked to what. Even the biggest Social Users like Guy Kawasaki are grasping with these issues. The four second pause and think stategy can work wonders. One I will follwo now I have just made it up.

Thanks

Dara
http://mydarabell.com/ Dara Bell

Afterthought
Guess this applies to those that have their Tweets on show in their SM eco- sphere i.e badges.
TaylorEllwood

This is why I don't even connect my linkedin to my twitter. I only post to it when I have a business update.
jessicaswanson

So true Chris! Once you hide someone on your LinkedIn account…that's it! They are gone from your stream forever and ever. I agree…most people may want to seriously consider “unlinking” that constant stream of Twitter chatter from their LinkedIn account.
dianekrose

Thank you for putting in writing what I think to myself whenever I visit my LinkedIn page these days. Different audiences and different channels clearly require different techniques.
http://twitter.com/CallMeStaffing CallMe! Staffing

Fantastic advice. Coming from the perspective of a staffing firm, this is especially important for those in job hunt mode.
http://twitter.com/ohradiogirl ohradiogirl

I had my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts connected for a short period of time. Didn't take me long to figure out that was NOT a good idea. I keep most of my social media accounts separate. It works best for me.
http://twitter.com/thekencook Ken Cook

I got two arrows! Is that better or worse than a check mark? Hello Danny Brown. I think Chris did the update just to give me two green arrows. I think that post actually went through HootSuite to LinkedIn as I have never felt compelled to connect my Twitter stream to LinkedIn.
http://twitter.com/EllisTweet EllisTweet

I agree, Chris. I don't link the two together.

To me, Twitter has always felt more like a place to learn, a place to meet interesting people, a place to be more socially three-dimensional & expressive from a personality standpoint. The 140 character rule & listing capabilities help keep the volume more tolerable.

I view LinkedIn as a place to be a little more polished & buttoned up. I think of it as a more formal setting, one that I'm usually mentally “suited-up” for. I don't want noise flowing to me through LinkedIn, and I don't want to generate unwelcome attention-garnering activity myself either.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

I liked yours. Totally business.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

I'm going to do it once a month or so until it cleans up.

Thanks for keeping watch. : )
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

You're not wrong that the *REAL* trouble lies in the inane stuff people tweet more than the linkage. Interesting. You might have me there, Sid.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

You're not wrong that the *REAL* trouble lies in the inane stuff people tweet more than the linkage. Interesting. You might have me there, Sid.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

Exactly. You and Angler Sid have me. It's people moving junk from Twitter into LI, not just the detail of them tying them together.
http://twitter.com/HawaiiRealty Kelly Mitchell

Twitter is a much more casual site and I am extremely selective about what info I post to LinkedIn from Twitter. To me there needs to be value added business information on LinkedIn. It's definitely not a site where you tell people where you are (they don't care) or what you had for lunch (totally infuriating). Frivolous communique, idle chat is best left to Twitter. I believe it is the same on Facebook. You should be far more selective with people you truly want to influence and engage with. It has a direct reflection on you and how you do business.
anglersid

I'm glad my comment came across to you the way it was intended, I apologize for failing to mention I found your article well-written and thought provoking.
http://twitter.com/brentkobayashi Brent Kobayashi

Actually, I disagree with Sid & agree with your original premise Chris. Twitter & LinkedIn are two completely different audiences. Starting right from the way you get connected.

On Twitter you choose to follow someone – you are presumably interested in hearing their updates.

With LinkedIn you are choosing to connect with someone – that is very different. Many LinkedIn contacts are simply not that engaged with you – they aren't looking for a conversation – they are simply acknowledging that you are linked. I think your LinkedIn updates need to respect that the connection is more passive – keep it much more infrequent than twitter, and make sure it is on topic.

With LinkedIn the status updates are secondary to the connection.

With Twitter, your status updates ARE the reason for the connection. Sure, if your Twitter stream is business related, don't be so inane, but at the same time you are also actually having a conversation – there is going to be some “fluff” that is only relevant to some people – and that's OK.

For example, I'm not really interested when Chris says “Gotta jump off for a moment. Be back shortly.”

But I also don't mind that Chris says this because I know he is having a conversation with someone, I just happened to overhear it – because that's what happens with Twitter. I also know with Chris that the conversation will turn back to something I am interested in & that's why I'll continue to chose to follow him.

On LinkedIn though, I may be very happy to add someone to my network. However, it's much less likely I want to listen in on their full twitter conversation. They need to keep it slow, steady, and relevant because the conversation is NOT why I connected – it's secondary – and I'm happy to have that steady stream of “conversational advertising” – so long as it is slow and steady – and relevant.

I think you have it right Chris. It isn't about junk->LinkedIn being the problem. It is because they ARE two different mediums.
Peter Osborne

Chris…Terrific point and I was startled to see a retweet post on my LinkedIn account today. It was business-related. The question is how do you undo the connection — from the LinkedIn end or the Twitter end? Wa it enough just to Revoke Access on Twitter? I'm not real sure what I did to connect the two. Thanks.
http://twitter.com/jaimesay Jaime Romero

Thanks Chris. I'm glad someone else stated the obvious. Having Twitter updates populate my LinkedIn home page makes me hide the person, primarily because the frequency makes me miss the status updates I want to see.
http://www.ricardobueno.com Ricardo Bueno

I think people should communicate within the context of the network. I consider LinkedIn to be a professional's playground so mundane updates being pushed through a Twitter account aren't really going to cut it for me (it's annoying more than anything).

I get it though, people want to increase their reach. But in a way, their hurting their influence if all they're doing is annoying their connections. Make sense?
http://www.ricardobueno.com Ricardo Bueno

I think people should communicate within the context of the network. I consider LinkedIn to be a professional's playground so mundane updates being pushed through a Twitter account aren't really going to cut it for me (it's annoying more than anything).

I get it though, people want to increase their reach. But in a way, their hurting their influence if all they're doing is annoying their connections. Make sense?
http://visualoop.tumblr.com/ TSSVeloso

Chris, I fully understand your original point, but I maintain my Twitter account synched with LI precisely for the reason @anglersid and others mentioned, and specially because I don't use Twitter as my personal “what am I doing” broadcast. I share links on a multiplicity of subjects, that I like or work with – and I do that a lot, I confess.

But that will provide my LI connections a much better understanding of who I am. I've stated that on other similar discussions: I think this connection between LI and Twitter is a plus exactly because, that way, you can have, in a glance, a much proper idea of what people really are. For example, I only accept connection requests from people I don't know AFTER checking their Twitter activity, and by doing so, I feel much more comfortable even to start a conversation with that person.

It's all about using Social Media as a mean and not as an end. If you're on Twitter to share what you're having for lunch or that you're taking the bus home, then, for sure, don't integrate it with LI. But if you're there to share good content, that's fine.

Lose Opportunities in LinkedIn

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

Supporters

About

Subscribe