Bees in My Social Networking Bonnet

Image by One Speckled Frog via Flickr

I don’t fret too much over the nuances of social media etiquette. I’m simply on my best behavior  – or decent anyway – and expect the same of others.

So a couple of things I experienced today really bugged me – one blatant and one simply thoughtless.

First was on twitter. Someone I follow (who also follows me) sent me an @ message with a link to her business video on YouTube, with a note to “enjoy”. I was puzzled, thinking I’d forgotten the thread of a current conversation. Looking back there was nothing, so I asked her why she sent it. No reply. Then I looked at her twitter profile and realized she had sent video links to many others too. Now, I’m thinking that someone who knows enough to make, upload and distribute that video surely has heard of spam – as in, it’s a bad thing. So I sent her a link to The Twitter Rules, unfollowed and blocked her, and reported her to twitter. Geez.

Next, I saw that someone on one of my LinkedIn groups had posed a question that I could answer. Cool! So I spent the next several minutes crafting a very thoughtful reply. Shortly, an update arrived in my inbox with a thank you from the asker – to me as well as the one other person who posted an answer. Very nice. Or so I thought. Followed the link to the discussion…she had deleted it! What the heck?!? I messaged her asking why she had removed the Q&A. Her answer was that she agreed with what I said and realized that the topic wasn’t really what she wanted to ask about. Hmm, did it not register with her that it was a public forum, and that members put a bit of thought into their replies and contributions? The expectation is that our answers will remain for others’ benefit and to showcase our expertise. To have them chucked in the “round file” is quite insulting and will make me think twice before answering next time.

What do you think? Any social networking bees in your bonnet today?

Tagged as: Best practice, LinkedIn, Online Communities, Social media, Social Networks, Spam, Twitter