Photo Credit Willie Holdman Fatal Flaw in Facebook, Linked in and other Social Networks
October 7th, 2008 by linkAs I see it, the ultimate value of the Social Networks is still up for grabs even though it is growing worldwide. The potential fatal flaw is that rather than enhancing your reputation you may damage it by loosely giving access to your most trusted relationships. Consider this: Do you have a multiple year, deep trusted relationship with your social network friends or a 1 year acquaintance repeated multiple times? With Trust depth matters.
Social networks are filled with loose mutual acquaintances but rarely our most trusted influencers. Why? Because it would violate the very level of trust the relationship is based on to openly expose your most influential high trust relationships to random access from others you barely know! This is the same reason customers are reluctant to risk their reputation by referring their trusted colleagues and friends to salespeople. The speed of your trust and reputation, your social capital and influence, resides in your carefully nurtured “Trustwork”™ not your loose network of acquaintances. Mix the two haphazardly and you risk your reputation with your most trusted friends. Many of the acquaintances in your social networks, are simply “potential” candidates for you to up-level and earn deep mutual respect with, and they with you, by demonstrating consistent behavior over time that inspires each person’s trust. Facebook, Linkedin and others provide a rich opportunity to meet new friends trusted by people you trust. This is the ultimate value of networking. In fact research shows that loose acquaintances were more likely to lead to a job referral. So social networks do have value. Just be sure to extend smart trust and check new friends track records before introducing them to your Trustwork™ of long nurtured high trust relationships until they earn that extraordinary level of trust.
The game of friending anyone and everyone to show a large network number also seems risky. Clarify your expectations and think of how you would like others to access you. Build your network strategically based on your objectives. The intent of the network providers is to attract eyeballs and mindshare any way they can and find ways to monetize that attention. The jury is still out on how they will do that. Meanwhile, we are trusting them with considerable information so be smart out there.
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