Best to separate the ‘Social’ from the ‘Networking’ says The NY Times

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Jennifer Brady

UMassOnline Director of Makreting, Jennifer Brady A recent overview article in the New York Times provides a great deal of good advice for anyone still uncertain about, or afraid of, social networking. In short, Times writer Sarah Jane Tribble, in her piece entitled The Social Network as a Career Safety Net, says there is much to gain if you follow a few simple and appropriate behaviors and know the difference between a business- and career-oriented social network versus the options out there that emphasize purely social connections. In my opinion, the best piece of advice I took from her overview is the last line: Keep the social separate from the networking.

LinkedIn gets a lot of air time in Ms. Tribble’s piece with good reason as it clearly demonstrates the impact of being ‘LinkedIn’ on career development:

When Mr. So, a 32-year-old from Dublin, Calif., learned he had 45 days to find a new job before his company eliminated his division, he turned to friends online.

Within hours of updating his job status on the social-networking site LinkedIn, Mr. So won four job interviews through his contacts there. Within a week, two of the interviews resulted in offers. And within less than a month, his employer counter offered with a position in another division and a $25,000 bump in his annual salary.

As expected in an article on social media, Facebook also receives some face time in the article. Facebook, which began in 2004 as a way for college students to communicate, has more than 80 million active users. The fastest-growing segment is now those 25 years old and older, according to the company.

I am familiar with both sites from a social networking perspective and the potential it offers to connect with new students, existing students and of course alumni but also continue to ask questions about how to use, best practices and mostly where to draw the line. The writer really boils it down in very simple language: If LinkedIn is the Chamber of Commerce luncheon, then Facebook is the after-hours party (and MySpace is the all-night rave, which may make trolling for business connections there a bit trying).

What are your thoughts on LinkedIn, Facebook or other social networking sites? Do you use these often to connect with classmates, colleagues? Do you consider social networking sites like these helpful to career development?

Comments

One Response to “Best to separate the ‘Social’ from the ‘Networking’ says The NY Times”

Apostolos K. on September 5th, 2008 12:36 pm

I think social does have a place in networking - it just depends on what shade of ’social’ you choose to show. I am a member of all three aforementioned social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace).

LinkedIn has some social aspects of my life, namely that I like languages, video games and dilbert (to name a few). These things let people know who you are as a person and give some clues if you would be compatible with the company culture. On LinkedIn I add classmates, work contacts and some close friends who are looking to network in work related issues.

Facebook on the other hand is more ’social’ in that I will elaborate on what movies or music I like, where I’ve travelled, and share interesting websites I find - most materials are rated G. My contacts on facebook are generally classmates, and friends that go back to kindergarten. I generally don’t add business contacts on facebook unless I really know them and I do consider them a ‘friend’ in the traditional sense.

Finally the ‘all night rave’ nature of MySpace is probably the reason I don’t frequent it that much. I do have a profile, but it points back to facebook and myspace, in case old friends find me there.

Social network sites are just like real life - you choose what to share about yourself depending on who you are conversing with

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