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Creative Ramblings > LinkedIn > Did social media kill professionalism?

Did social media kill professionalism?

20 Feb, 2013 LinkedIn Ramblings Social Media Permalink
An overload of communications

(Photo credit: windsordi)

“Hi,
My company is doing an annual review, and this mini-survey will help me. Do you mind filling one for me?
[link]
Thanks
XXXX”

I received the message above in my LinkedIn inbox this morning. It was addressed to two other people.

How do I know that? Simply because the sender did not even care to hide their names.

This person is not even an acquaintance. We connected on the social network a while ago, but I do not remember their expressing interest in knowing me.

LinkedIn is not Facebook. It is a place for professionals to interact with other professionals, a site where your skills and expertise are your highest currencies. Your unwillingness to add a personal and friendly touch to your messages will say a lot about the way you do business and treat others.

Social media did not kill professionalism. We did.

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Creative Commons License
This article by Cendrine Marrouat is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

About The Author

Cendrine Marrouat is a journalist, blogger, content curator, author, and workshop facilitator located in Canada. She is the founder of two social media blogs: Social Media Slant and Creative Ramblings. On March 6, 2012, she released The Little Big eBook on Blogging: 40 Traffic Generation Tips, a comprehensive resource that provides bloggers of all levels with essential information and precise guidance to attract quality traffic to their blogs. She is currently working on an eBook on social media strategies that should be released before the end of 2013.
  • http://greatpoetrymhf.wordpress.com Mary Helen Ferris

    Indeed, Cendrine, bring back the professionalism….I liked the caring, sharing ways of that much more….than the above example of breach of courtesy and trust.

    • http://www.cendrinemarrouat.com Cendrine Marrouat

      People need to see examples of bad things to understand how they can change their ways. :-) Thank you for stopping by!

  • http://inspiretothrive.com Lisa

    OMG, this reminds me of when I received messages from people I didn’t know well at all asking me to recommend them, are they kidding me? I was really surprised by that. You are right Cendrine, people killed the professionalism of social media, not social media itself.

    • http://www.cendrinemarrouat.com Cendrine Marrouat

      Hello Lisa,

      Yes, I have received messages like that too. The other day, someone I barely know even asked me to endorse them — after praising me and my blog. I didn’t even answer.

      Thank you for stopping by!

  • http://www.ladykhadija.info Lady Khadija

    I agree, Cendrine! LinkedIn is not Facebook or Twitter. Even on those network, developing relationships and getting acquainted with people’s sensibilities is crucial.

  • http://incometherapy.com Sarah Park

    Yeah, right. We have to be very responsible with every action we make especially when it comes to business.

  • http://thoughtsofashutterbug.wordpress.com Donna Kiritharan

    Reminds me of what my boss did the other week. He literally questioned my lack of faith and demanded that I respect his faith if I had any respect for him ON FACEBOOK. Some people are just plain stupid. Needless to say, a company that has such unprofessional administrators isn’t really a company worth staying with.

    • http://www.cendrinemarrouat.com Cendrine Marrouat

      Hello Donna,

      Thank you for stopping by.

      Some people think that a computer screen will protect them. So they basically feel entitled to say anything. This happens everywhere, unfortunately!

  • http://www.jaipurrugs.com/ Joy

    Thanks for sharing that experience Cendrine. I had a similar one just recently. I found it disheartening especially when people disregard personalizing their messages. For lack of a better word, I find it “cold”.

    • http://www.cendrinemarrouat.com Cendrine Marrouat

      You are right, it’s cold!

  • http://www.collinsconsulting.com.au/what-we-do/executive-search Veronica

    Social Media didn’t kill profressionalism. It’s the person’s choice to remain professional. I’ve seen people being harrassed by their bosses on Facebook and other social sites. I guess some people just don’t think.

  • http://www.elitecruise.com.au/ Stacey

    Looks more like a machine generated message than a human made one. That’s the difficulty with the virtual age, suddenly even human interaction turns cold. I don’t think that including a short friendly message would do anyone bad, right?

  • http://www.redpetal.com.au/pyrmont Vianney

    I definitely agree with your point of view. We cannot really blame social media because humans are still the one calling the shots in communication. In the emails I send out, I still incorporate that air of humanity in it so that I would be more approachable to my old and potential customers.

    • http://www.cendrinemarrouat.com Cendrine Marrouat

      Hello Vianney,

      It’s definitely a great idea!

  • http://www.vecc24.com/ Calra

    Today people take the phrase “freedom of speech” to a whole new level. The forgotten that the need to maintain a certain level especially when they’re in a position. It’s sad to know there are people like them around who don’t really think about the consequences of their actions.

  • http://balihutsuperstore.com.au/ Arianne

    We tend to blame social media for everything like lack of interpersonal relationships and professionalism. But in reality the people who don’t have any respect for themselves just go beyond the boundary and do things that they’re not supposed to.

  • http://www.thegunmarket.com.au/ Aayna

    I guess we should not really stroke social media for killing the score of professionalism, as it is always in the hands of the speaker, what to speak and how to speak. If the speaker is using an informal tone even on a formal platform, what more worse you can expect!!! Social media is a great thing if one uses it wisely. Thanks for highlighting the issue through this post.

  • http://www.smithfloyd.com/ Fatima

    Social media cannot be blamed for killing professionalism because choice of content is done at an individual level.. Great food for thought though; thanks for sharing.