As social networking gains in popularity how do you know that the person you just connected with is not psychotic, a stalker, or worse? Well the sad truth is that just like in your non digital networking life, you can never know for 100% absolute certain at first. However there are some simple steps that you can take to discover if your new connection has legitimate networking intentions or not. Some simple research also provides you with the knowledge to weed out those that do not meet a truthfulness comfort level because there are four simple social networking behavior norms that are beginning to appear.
- A REAL PHOTO ~ If you don’t have a photo up it is perceived that you are hiding something. Also permanent avatars don’t count here either. Nor photos of your favorite cat, dog, car, logo or vacation. I understand that they can all look really cool, but they don’t show you the person, and it is you the person who I want to connect with. A real photo bridges the social connection to those you converse with online.
- A RELEVANT LINK ~ How can I learn more about you if you don’t provide something other than your twitter profile, corporate website, Multi Level Marketing video, or even a myspace account for Guns and Roses? Once again the expected norm is to provide a valuable link to your company, to your blog, or other aspects that let me know that you are a ‘normal’ person and you have some degree of social skills and sense of community. Think about it this way, 80% of the time when you first meet a person, what do they ask? Easy, ‘What do you do for a living?” Your relevant link should answer this question. As in “I work for…”or “My company is…”, and it should not be of the “I was convicted of…”.
- REAL LIFE CONNECTIONS ~ If you say that you live in Denver, but all your connections are not from Denver, it raises a flag. Do you also have local friends on social networks? Can you tweet them and have them respond with a “Sure, I’ve known Jerell for 6 years at IBM, and he is a great guy”. Or would all of their connections respond with “I only know him from online”.
- CONVERSATION ~ This one is easy, do they engage in conversation or only put out their MLM links, comments, or quotes? Then there are those that attempt to engage in conversation, but instead of asking meaningful questions it’s a ploy to get you to buy what they are selling 100% of the time. Yes, social networking is a valuable tool for a businesses efforts in new media , but it shouldn’t be a part of every update or comment you make.
What are your rules or any norms that I missed?
Tags: networking, rules, social
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