Why You Shouldn't do Social Networking

I had a good conversation with Todd Schnick of the Intrepid Group, LLC on Twitter today, during which I realized I could summarize the point of yesterday's post as:

Don't get into social networking if your in-person* networking sucks!

Because:

1. You're wasting your time and other people's time on social networking sites if you are unwilling to work from a mutually beneficial stance. Just email me your brochure if you want to prospect. Don't make me wade through your pseudo-free-invitation/informational link just to find out you want to sell me something.
   
   
2. Social networking sites give us such a narrow view of a slice of each others lives, that everything is magnified. Good and bad traits are out of proportion, because we don't have a lot of context to put them in.

Giving first is even more important on social networking than in person. If you start the conversation with "gimme, gimme, gimme" it is very easy for me to ignore/block/unfriend you online than in person. I might see you again somewhere, so I'll still be polite and perhaps give you a second chance. If I block you on Twitter - no second chance.

...Tomorrow: other habits/traits that are more important on social media.

*Thank you Daniel Klotz for the suggestion of this term to mean non-social-networking networking.