Is More Always Merrier?

I’m telling you – they’re a lovely bunch to work with this Direct Online Marketing™ crew. You only have to whine about needing a dentist once on the company blog and there are post-it notes and emails hovering about all over the place. Granted, I could’ve asked them in person, but I fear they’re still becoming accustomed to my rather broad Lancashire accent. Which, in turn, becomes even more incomprehensible when you’ve got a Marlon Brando-esque mouth in The Godfather beginning to develop.

Incoherent drooling can scare some people.

But it’s simply symptomatic of the kindness and generosity I’ve been party to since moving to West Virginia. If you believe there are two types of people in this world: those who have the glass half full and those who have it half empty, then West Virginians strike me as either not being bothered about the glass at all or that it’s overflowing. (I’m still working on this one.)

It also strikes me as a bit of a place where having a round of golf at your local links is still the preferred method of business networking over LinkedIn. And, although I’ve been known to say that blogging is the new golf, I’ve maybe softened this stance a wee bit.

This brave new world where we’re unable to disconnect ourselves from the internet is possibly the very reason for a bit of face-to-face time.

This article hits the nail on the head quite perfectly. Pete Blackshaw writes:

“Web 2.0 is very open, but what becomes of the organizing principles which enable value or traction?” asks my ever-in-touch colleague Max Kalehoff. “How do you avoid becoming a whole lot of nothing? What becomes of the private, exclusive, invite-only networks? There’s something to them. Means by which to codify the friendships and obligations are key.”

The vast majority of relationships on the web can be meaningless. They can also be fleeting. And they can also lead to a perfect fit.

Personally, I love LinkedIn, but I have no intention of trying to become everybody’s friend on it. Whilst tools like LinkedIn might be about connection they aren’t necessarily about connections. You’ve heard the one about quality as opposed to quantity?

In a nutshell, you may like the character of somebody online, but you’ll definitely be able to test it out on the golf course. So, I suggest you read the article about social networks, and decide whether you’d rather join one or go golfing.

Oh, and you can do both y’know.