The Social Irony of Social Networking

I belong to several social networks and noticed that many of them are coming up with rules about spamming and promoting your business.

Granted, some of them are special interest (non-business related) groups so I can fully understand and appreciate wanting to eliminate spam. It is becoming wearisome to accept those friends' request only to get a barrage of invitations to explore that person's product or business.

BUT, let's get real here. If you took a a poll of those people joining social networks just for the social part of it versus the business generating part of it you probably would find that most people, certainly those who have businesses, are joining in order to attract business.

A common practice I see is people posting information like machines in order to provide "value." But of course, what they're really wanting to do is to attract more clients. There is something very duplicitous about this in my opinion. It seems too much like a bait and switch tactic to me -- advancing an unproven cyberspace friendship with a "real" agenda of doing business.

With so many social networks out there and so many people blogging anyway, I do not have the time to be an encyclopedia of factoids to provide some amorphous "value" to readers in the hopes that this perceived value will translate into clients. I am seeing so many factoids and article redirects now that my eyes are glazing over. The field is way too full with people taking this more "subtle" approach.

Oftentimes, people are providing so much information, I don't even know what their primary business is. I just know that they are a repository of information. In live networking such as in BNI, each person has to provide a 60 or 30 minute "commercial" about their business or at least tell whom whey are looking for.

Why is this straightforward approach getting so lost in the social media realm where any reference to your business is viewed to as "spam" in some circles?

If someone is posting and posting just to add "value" and I do not even know what their business is or whom they are looking for, then they haven't accomplished a whole lot in my opinion.

In "real" live networking a key theme is giver's gain. How can I help you? How can I help connect you to someone I know? I can't do that if I don't even really know what business you're in because it is being masked through an information dump. It also kind of says that maybe you don't need any help. You're home free. You just want to keep providing information so that I might want to do business with you. The question is how does that cycle back to me?

Rather than hiding behind the guise of information purveyor, just be up front about your business and what would take you to the next level. It could be the start of a truly beautiful friendship which is what social networking is all about!