About a year and a half ago I wrote a post: Why I Love LinkedIn.
In that post, I noted that my favorite feature is simply reading through the Notifications to see what my former students are up to. If one of them is starting a new job, has gotten a promotion, or is going back to grad school, I usually try to reach out with a simple congratulatory note. Often times that leads to a brief exchange of emails so that we can get caught up with each other. A few times itโs even led to inviting a few of them back to campus to be a guest speaker in my class.
Since I usually teach freshmen, very few of them have LinkedIn accounts, and so I encourage them to sign up as soon as they can so as to start building their network. I tell them that they are certainly free to reach out to me to connect as part of building their network.
A few freshmen do create a LinkedIn account, and a subset of those students do reach out to me with an invitation to connect, which I always accept.
So imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago I started getting a flood of invitations from both last semester’s freshmen, and the ones I am teaching this semester.
I must admit to being excited by the activity, thinking that they were heeding my words of advice and saw some value in adding me to their network.
Well it didn’t take long for my bubble to be burst.
Before the start of class the other day, I heard a couple of students chatting, and if I heard correctly, they were asking each other if they had completed an assignment for their professional development course that required every student to create a LinkedIn account and add at least five connections.
It seems like a worthwhile assignment, since I think students will learn to see the value of having an online business network.
So while it was exciting to see my network grow, it’s sort of a hollow victory.
It’s the same excitement I feel when I get a follower in WordPress, there’s nothing like seeing your stats grow ๐ But if such a follower never engages with my blog posts in some way (reading, liking, commenting), then you have to wonder what is the value of having such followers.
So while I am sure that some, if not most, of these students who connected with me justย to fulfill a class requirement will never interact with me on LinkedIn moving forward, there will be a few people whom I interact with for the next several years via LinkedIn.
And that’s what makes it so enjoyable for me.
P.S. In quite the coincidence, while in the midst of writing this, I got a request from a student to connect with them on LinkedIn. Invitation accepted…
A little anticlimactic for sure but at least you were on their list.
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I’m happy to be on it, but realistically there may not have been many other viable options or people they knew…
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I remember when LinkedIn was new and viable. Now it’s mainly a way to look up interviewers and applicants. My pic is at least 10yrs out of date and was exceptionally good back then… no resemblance to current reality!
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I still find it useful, but my picture is probably about 10 years old as well!
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Haha! Sorry, had to laugh. But hey, like you said there will probably be some that do actually connect with you! In fact maybe more tban you expect , which would mean another post to let us know! So you may get 2 posts out of this, plus students liking you. ๐
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I’m not sure which one would make me happier, getting two post out of the same topic, or having students like me… ๐
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๐
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I agree. What good are followers is they don’t read your posts and at least hit the Like button once in awhile, if not leave a comment? Anything else seems like an exercise in futility. What the hell is the point?
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agreed…
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I don’t really use LinkedIn much, but now I’m going to find you, Jim.
I’d still take it as a compliment that they thought to ask you as one of the five people.
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thanks for the LinkedIn connection, and yes, I was still happy that the students reached out to me ๐
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all this being said, you were in the top 5, which, to any man of a lofty stats stature, should be considered a win~
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I am honored that they reached out to connect with me ๐
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I agree with Pete and Beth. You see them picking you as an easy fill-in for one of their five spots. I see them in a world of 7.9 billion people picking you in the top five. As with all things, it is a matter of perspective.
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I was happy that they reached out to connect. But now I’m thinking why don’t the other 7.9 billion people want to connect with me? ๐
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That’s the real question….do they know you juggle? ๐
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I think I may have mentioned it once or twice ๐
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You were on their top 5. I think they like you!
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or were desperate to complete the assignment ๐
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How disappointing for you, but at least you made their top five! I only connected to LinkedIn after I retired, which probably isnโt the best way to do it. That probably explains why I havenโt used it!
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you may be able to reconnect with some of your previous colleagues in LinkedIn…
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I have about thirty connections on there but I just donโt use it! A lot of former colleagues are Facebook friends so we keep in touch that way. Horses for courses, I guess.
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as long as you found a way to connect, that is a good thing. Have not heard of the phrase horses for courses – I like it…
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Yes, thatโs what matters. Maybe thatโs a British saying – reasonably common in usage here.
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I should have kept a list of all the phrases you introduced me too; it would make for a fun post!
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Iโd be chuffed if you did it ๐
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had to look that one up!
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Thought you might ๐
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and I still have to listen to the Wilburys!
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No pressure, no rush!
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๐
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I’m in LinkedIn but never use it. It is always nice to have more followers even if they don’t really follow.
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yes, seeing that follower count go up is always a good feeling ๐
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I have my professional profile on linked in, Jim. It’s the one social media I never check. Hehe!
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It seems to be the one most people tend to ignore…
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It’s great to read that you have a good relationship with your students that you remember their names and check in on them to see how they are doing. I remember a couple of years after leaving I needed a reference so got in touch with my old course lead, they responded to say that they only give references to students he had lectured (he definitely had for two of my three years), to say he couldn’t remember me stung!
I’ve given up on WordPress followers! I now have over a thousand and I would love to say that every new post that comes out I get around that many views from my followers, I would love to say I at least get 10% of that ๐
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I had a similar situation happen to me as well when I was a student, and that may be part of the reason why I try to get to know my students, at least a little bit…
and it would be nice if followers were more engaged
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I have no idea what LinkedIn is for. The only reason I still have an account is that I donโt know my password so I canโt delete it. Maybe itโs because Iโm not in the corporate world that I donโt get it. Recently Iโve been adding WP followers at the rate of 2 to 5 a day. Almost all of them are selling something. Iโm always thankful when I get a follower who is actually a blogger. But usually I never hear a peep out of them ever after.
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I like LinkedIn, for that student connection. I don’t use it for professional purposes. And yes, most of my followers do not engage with my posts, but it is nice to have a few loyal ones…
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Be honoured they listened in class and remembered your offer.
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I am certainly grateful and honored that they reached out to connect. Maybe that assignment was just the push they needed…
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University life has certainly evolved since my time (back in the 70s). Back then, we thought of networking by watching the news on ABC, CBS, or NBC. Sort of an alphabet soup of objectivity when news was news.
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life was certainly much simpler back then!
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Simpler yes, but technology was in its infancy.
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and I love technology, but I have fond memories of a childhood without it…
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Victory! You never think they are listening…but they are. ๐
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that’s what I keep telling myself… ๐
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