By Eleanor Pierce
We had a recent conversation among the Arment Dietrich team about the creep-factor inherent in social media.
See, some of us have a bit of a problem.
I don’t want to get into who among us have been targeted, but I will say this: In my eyes, LinkedIn is not, nor should it ever be, a dating platform.
However, we do know that some social media users don’t buy that stricture. In fact, LinkedIn had a bit of a problem for some time with the ultimate in not-getting-the-point: Stalkers.
For a long time, there was no effective way to block particular users while still participating on LinkedIn. That was the case until earlier this year, when LinkedIn finally caved to public pressure.
Now, you can block users on LinkedIn.
But this torrent of unwanted attention seems to flow whenever humans connect to each other online (or, for that matter, in person).
On the other hand, we could all come up with examples of people who did want the attention. People who fell in love under the mesmerizing glow of a smartphone. People who ended long-term relationships and marriages after rekindling past love affairs on Facebook.
Plus, if you think about how many politicians have gotten in trouble on Twitter, it’s not hard to imagine a bevy of not-so-public digital Don Juans getting into trouble on social media, too.
The conversation we had lingered in my head throughout the week.
And I thought of it again when I read this PC World story about what a hard time companies have getting employees to use enterprise social networks.
Corporate Connections through Enterprise Social Networks
If you’re not familiar with it, enterprise social networking (sometimes called ESN) software is created specifically to connect the employees of a given company online.
It often has big brainstorming and collaboration potential, and often includes intranet functions such as built-in file-sharing.
And while some large companies such as GE are having success with ESN offerings, many analysts say companies are struggling to get their employees to participate in the networks.
Gartner analyst Carol Rozwell says:
Too often we see companies whose leaders are thrilled with the technology, and they see how quickly consumer social networks like Facebook have grown. They think they’ll accomplish the same growth rate and participation if they purchase the right tool. That approach doesn’t work.
And, come on. Of course it doesn’t work like that. Because even those of us who don’t want to be hit on while on Facebook (or Twitter or Instagram) still enjoy one of the most fundamental components of the social experience: We like the thrill of the unexpected.
It’s About the Fun, Not the Tools
That’s what makes social media fun. We like not knowing what crazy thing that guy we went to high school will say (as long as we still have access to a “block” button if he takes it too far).
We like finding out who really let themselves go after college.
We like finding out who’s going to post something outrageous—did crazy Aunt So-and-So really say that?
(I once had an uncle prank my grandmother by hacking into her Facebook and sharing a wildly inappropriate message to her boyfriend—the few minutes that I believed the message was from her were both horrifying and hilarious.)
We like being surprised by funny content.
And what would you expect to get out of a company-sponsored (and, perhaps, monitored?) social network?
Would you expect the unexpected?
Would you expect to be surprised or entertained?
Not likely.
All of this means that if you are going to promote one of these enterprise social networks (and some suggest that many of us will in the coming years), you’d better come up with, and communicate a compelling value proposition.
Because whatever your enterprise social network offers, it can’t compete with the unexpected.
We pick on LinkedIn a little bit because we know someone who has been on the receiving end of people trying to use it as a meat market. However, it is any social platform, isn’t it?
There are marriages that are broken up due to one or both spouses wandering off…and if you get to the heart of the matter the “goal” of their wandering started as a Facebook connection (or reconnection).
For me, it is very frustrating to see people use a specific network in a way I think is improper. We’ve discussed how it looks like LinkedIn is becoming “Facebooky,” which drives me utterly insane.
And you wonder why I’m #gruffy.
For me, Google+ has been the biggest source of unwanted stalker-ish activity. But you nailed it…wherever people are connecting with each other (for any reason), there are always going to be creepers. On LinkedIn in particular, though, it’s really hard to delete a contact once you’ve hit that “accept” button!
ClayMorgan I’m so with you. When LinkedIn notifies me that it’s someone’s birthday, or when people have EVERYSINGLE tweet post directly to LinkedIn, my eyes start to twitch.
rosemaryoneill The only problem I’ve had so far with Google+ is people sharing my profile pictures. People I don’t know, sharing my photos. What type of stalker-ish activity have you had?
rosemaryoneill It is a truth universally acknowledged … that people will be creepin wherever they get together. I know someone on the team gets fairly regular marriage proposals on Google+ …
And yes! LinkedIn doesn’t make it easy. And although I know you CAN block someone now, I imagine it would take a bit of digging to figure out how to do it
I’m like patient zero when it comes to being a victim of online stalkers. I’m not sure what it is about me, but I draw the crazies out of the woodwork. Facebook I expect it and just deal (plus it is sooooo easy to block people). Foursquare I had so many problems I had to delete my account (because it crosses the line when people know exactly where you are). LinkedIn has become the new match.com and it’s driving me batty.
Even worse is that because everything is so interconnected the smarter of the stalkers start stalking me in ALLLLLL the places. So I’ll shake them on Facebook and they show up on YouTube or Twitter.
But in the end I can’t complain (although I just spent two paragraphs complaining) because I CHOOSE to be there. It goes back to the conversation we had about the Facebook “mental experiments.” Until the irritations drastically outweigh the perceived benefit all stalkers will give a cheer!
I’m amazed by the number of creepers that come out of the woodwork on social media! I had to learn that nicely cutting off the conversation wasn’t enough–it still gave them fuel. You have to ignore the crazies sometimes.
And it’s not just the people with romantic interests. It seems like LinkedIn has become the hotspot for people who want to rant and be heard–especially if you read the comments in some of the top posts. Geez!
LauraPetrolino Nobody stalks me. 🙁
EmilyNKantner I also get fairly annoyed with spammy and salesy direct messages in LinkedIn. There are much more effective ways to get leads through LinkedIn … though judging by how many people do it, I suspect that maybe it works? Yuck.
LauraPetrolino I always felt pretty creeped out about FourSquare – I’ve had friends try – hard – to sell me on the benefits as a user, and I was never fully convinced.
ClayMorgan LauraPetrolino Haha, me neither, Clay.
Eleanor Pierce ClayMorgan LauraPetrolino Me threether. 🙁
RobBiesenbach Eleanor Pierce ClayMorgan LauraPetrolino Don’t worry folks, I’ll send you all over some of my surplus! Always willing to share my creepers with friends….that’s just the type of girl I am!
Eleanor Pierce LauraPetrolino Have I told you my foursquare story? About the gym?
Hey Eleanor,
Thanks for writing this article. Gotta love the creep factor lol.
Thanks again
Dave at NinjaOutreach
LauraPetrolino RobBiesenbach Eleanor Pierce ClayMorgan Me fourther.
LauraPetrolino Eleanor Pierce I have never ever used Foursquare or any other location based app. No way. Beyond creepy, IMHO.
Dave Schneider You most certainly do 🙂
Eleanor,
Fantastic article. Funny you mention LinkedIn. One of my employees approached me because she had a stalker on LinkedIn, and asked me how to resolve the issue. I was initially surprised because I’ve never really experienced creepers online…besides pokes from total strangers on Facebook (which I actually find entertaining *surprise factor*).
I can see your point regarding ESN. No one is going to feel compelled to share anything edgy or surprising when big brother is watching.
In your experience…what has been the most successful ESN that you’ve seen?
JoshuaJLight Did she figure it out? It’s really unfortunate that they don’t make it simpler for people.
And the one that really comes up again and again is GE Colab: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/ges-colab-brings-good-things-to-the-company/ I haven’t personally worked with them, but I’m curious to see where things are heading – I have a good friend who works for one of the enterprise software companies, and the way he talks all the big firms will go there. Again, I’m not so sure, but I’m definitely curious.
Eleanor Pierce ClayMorgan I’d have to agree with both of you there – LinkedIn is definitely going towards the FB model, and it’s a bummer. It’s almost like they glorify “signal” but then lapse into the same old noise…. hence the endless stream of push notifications. It’s like they’re the pushiest guest at a party and don’t know it!
LauraPetrolino YES. I can’t decide which is worse, that, or the people whose houses are broken into when they “check in” at Disneyworld …
JoeCardillo Eleanor Pierce ClayMorgan I do think they’re doing some things right, but I find the Facebook-ification tedious.
belllindsay LauraPetrolino RobBiesenbach Eleanor Pierce Ok ok I’m on it. Jeez. Not enough time in the day.
And ClayMorgan don’t think I forgot about the ginidietrich oversight of your judo awesomeness on her inquisition of you last month…that meme is going to happen this year, I just haven’t caught up to my side projects yet. =)
LauraPetrolino I wrote a tangentially related thing on last week’s G&T about that… I had this meeting a few weeks ago with someone who mentioned a gal I know who is very successful, and his take was that she was very flirty but wasn’t aware of it. I think there’s this unfortunate weight towards thinking of strong, smart, awesome women as being flirty when they are often just being, well, good humans. IMHO that’s mostly a reflection on the beholder, and not you. Generally if you consider the friendly, inquisitive perspective of many strong women in a different context (like, say, talking to a 3-year old, or an alligator), that misconception gets real obvious. Or maybe you’ve had 3-year olds and alligators stalk you? In which case I don’t know what’s going on.
Eleanor Pierce JoshuaJLight yeah I figured it out for her. Can’t remember the solution, but it stopped. My big beef with LinkedIn is how hard it is to get rid of a connection. So much spam, and it’s a multi-step process to end a connection. Might need to build an app for that…haha 🙂
I bet you could get a meeting with GE to check it out. Could be a really cool article, and it seems to fit your target audience. I’m also curious.
LauraPetrolino rosemaryoneill I’ve had numerous dudes try to start chats with me, and there’s a slew of guys who have circled me, and then when I go to check their profile out, they only have a gigantic “harem” of women in their circles. Ick.
Eleanor Pierce rosemaryoneill Well now, I’ve never gotten a marriage proposal. I’m a little bit hurt at this point.
JoeCardillo LauraPetrolino Hahahaha! This totally made me laugh! Luckily I’ve been able to maintain toddler and alligator stalker free thus far…so whew! That being said, I’d like to go with your theory because it’s an incredibly awesome compliment really (especially now that I’ve passed the toddler/gator test!)
Eleanor Pierce LauraPetrolino Well at least nothing was stolen, although to this day I have several friends who ask me if “I feel the burn” every time they see me (because that’s what stalker dude asked when he called)
rosemaryoneill LauraPetrolino OMG!
JoeCardillo Eleanor Pierce ClayMorgan As a Garbage Pail Kids Consultant/Latex Sales Expert/H2O Intake Technician, do you feel this is affecting your use of LinkedIn for professional success Joe? 😉
kind of proves the fallacy of the social employee. we want to be social just not for work. unless you make it a requirement and pay for it. i mean hey i see you in the office, in meetings, during conference calls. why do i also want to collaborate with an ESN ? i can see this working only for remote vs office/campus workers. but yes the potential is huge and any companies using facebook to collaborate is psycho.
LauraPetrolino JoeCardillo Oh good. I was worried there for a second, about those aggressive toddlers. They can be a real nuisance on LinkedIn.
LauraPetrolino JoeCardillo Eleanor Pierce ClayMorgan Hahh = )
Well I did something like six figure last year on Garbage Pail Kids Consulting, all off of LinkedIn connections. It’s not often you get to make up a job title and garner a whole $6.00 in only 12 months.
Hi Eleanor. Goos article.
There is another reason why some companies struggle with Enterprise Social Networks. Social is about being open. Treating people as equals. Sharing what to outsiders seems inconsequential, but builds a relationship – people we laugh with rapidly become insiders.
But hierarchical “talk at” companies don’t suddenly change overnight because they put in a social network. Just as they didn’t change when their marketing department put them on Twitter. These are the companies that need a policy for approving things before they are posted, so everything comes out in corporate-speak. They use their ESN as a company newsletter. Yawn. No wonder no-one engages with it.
PS: In the UK ESN stands for Educationally Sub Normal. Apt?
PeterJ42 Absolutely! Excellent, excellent point. It needs to be a part of your culture.
Howie Goldfarb The remote office is the office of the future! Also at some of these really large organizations, you’re talking about people in different buildings, different campuses …
Eleanor Pierce Howie Goldfarb I agree with Eleanor, but it isn’t just about remote workers. How much time in meetings is spent updating everyone – when that can simply be done with a quick post on the ESN?
Companies cannot afford to think the world stops at their walls. They need to be in social contact with their suppliers, their contractors, their freelancers, their consultants, their sales partners and even their key clients.
And think what social contact means – often the business isn’t done in the meeting, but the chat at the bar afterwards, where you get to understand eachother. Building that rapport and understanding happens over social and it affects how people treat eachother in the meeting.
PeterJ42 Excellent, excellent points. I might come to you when it’s time to learn more about these things 🙂
JoshuaJLight That’s a great idea Joshua!
Thanks a lot Eleanor
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