Tag Archives: linkedin

How I use LinkedIn

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TL;DR – I only connect on LinkedIn with people I can personally recommend.

I realize that many people use LinkedIn as tool to grow their professional networks, and to “bookmark” people they have met at conferences etc.

There are many reasons why I prefer Zerply (please connect with me there), but there is still enough critical-mass at LinkedIn to utilize the value it does provide.

I consider myself a LinkedIn purist. A core function of the product is the ability to connect to people two or three degrees away through introductions. All my connections are visible to people several degrees away as someone they could get an introduction to. So, it only makes sense to connect to people I feel confident personally and professionally recommending to someone else.

I am more than happy when anyone reaches out to me through LinkedIn, because I love to help out however I can. I am just highly likely to move the conversation to another channel, and connect on other networks.

books on community

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Brainstorming titles of books on community with @communitygirl:

  • “Community: All is Fair in Love and War”
  • “Community: These People Kill Me”
  • “Community: Love Scales”

[ via tweeeet ]

Community: All is Fair in Love and War
Community is not all peaches and ponies. It is hard work and messy and beautiful and creative and draining. People are mean. And people are inspiring. The only thing harder about dealing with a person, is to deal with a lot of persons. But, but, but, it is always worth the journey. So, how can we learn the rules of love AND the rules of war and bring a whole group of people along for the ride.

Community: These People Kill Me
Cultivating a community a lot of work. The kind of work that can kill you. No, seriously, stress causes heart attacks. Heart attacks kill people. On the other end, there are so many (SOOOOO many) stories that come out of community life. Heartbreaking, wonderful, beautiful things, that only surface when people crash into one another around things they love, or hate, or are passionate about. (Or, are bored.) Interesting how the same people who make you want to die, can also make you laugh so hard it feels like you are dying.

Community: Love Scales
So many things related to the business of interacting with customers do not scale. Every company, at some point has so many customers that they simply can no longer engage with them on a one-to-one level. This is sad. This is also life. When companies and organizations learn how to cultivate a community of customers (or communities of customer groups) they give birth to something that can scale. Make it easy for your customers to love you, and then they might fight for the chance to do your marketing, pr, customer service, evangelism, and sales FOR YOU.

What would you title your book on community?

I hate Community Management

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People’s “relationships” are emergent and thus can’t be managed. That is, they can be influenced but not controlled.
[ via Charlie Ehin ]

a.k.a. Why I Think ‘manager’ is the worst word to follow the word ‘community’

I prefer the phrase Community Cultivation and try to map all tasks and skills against gardening metaphors:

  • planting seeds
  • mindfulness about environmental factors
  • neighborhood kids who like to kick over the tomatoes
  • too much water is bad
  • not enough water is bad
  • fallow fields
  • weeding
  • harvest time
  • sharing with and helping the neighbors
  • getting up early
  • canning

What would you add to the list?
or What metaphors do you use?