I'm Too Square for Linked In

    

Did I link in or join the Borg collective ?

   I would first like to send a warm welcome to our new members.  Although I have never written the blog with the intention of simply gathering joiners, and I have been happy with people who read the posts and return as they can, it is encouraging to have people join. In fact, the people who have joined have been extremely bright and well informed people, and this is very heartening for me on days that I feel unusual, perhaps out of touch, and a bit like a dinosaur, especially in terms of my feelings of patriotism for this great nation, prior to its sacrificing itself for political correctness and all manner of peculiarity.

           Today I would like to talk about Linkedin.  For those of you who have been living in a subterranean bunker with only intermittent internet, Linkedin is a social media styled site which allows people to connect with those who are occupationally similar or at least occupationally interconnected.   It's basically career networking on the internet.   I don't do Facebook, Twitter, My Space, or any of the social media styled sites, basically because these are, as my kids say, TMI !   Anyone watching social media will have a great deal of information about you. Most of us reveal much more in simple chatter than we realize, and anyone collecting this data for nefarious purposes could do real damage..   Since my publisher has been phoning me about doing a better job in terms of being available to market both my books, Linkedin was a compromise for me.  It allows people to connect with me, and it allows me to connect with those I may have met once, and with whom I would like to stay in touch.  Some of them are publishers, and others are simply creative bright people with whom I would like to stay in touch.   Linkedin also asks for a heck of a lot of information, however there is a skip button.  I loaded information about myself and the books.  I loaded information about the projects I have worked on.  I did say what occupations I have held in the past, but I did not list all the colleges and universities I have attended. I did not list thirty years of employers.   Anyone with whom I would like to stay in touch from all those years, already has my contact information and I have theirs.   Stalking is a big problem in this country and around the world.  Social media inadvertently nurtures stalking, and to some degree voyeurism.  I went to one of the profiles of one of my friends from some years ago, and it reads like a storybook.  I know her life is not as idyllic as that, yet from her profile it sounds it.
            I needed to get some advice on what I should disclose on my Linkedin account, and so I spoke with my eldest son, who really is an expert on things internet.  My goal was to keep a business-like profile on internet designed to ultimately push the books.  He explained all the ways in which my privacy could be violated using Linkedin.  Not long after our discussion he decided to delete his own Linkedin account, leaving me wondering if I was leaving too much information floating around cyberspace myself. I'll let you know.