Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Meta Notes: Who My Friends Are

For the last couple of years I've been getting invites from students (and the occasional lawyer) who want me to join LinkedIn, the "professional networking service." At first I pretty much ignored them. I'm certainly not in a life-plan that requires networking, and anyway I'm just ornery or paranoid enough that it seemed easier to do nothing.

Lately I've thought--oh, what's the big deal, go ahead. So I've been accepting the invites.

Sunday afternoon, on impulse, I sent an invite of my own, to my address book.

Results so far: three people (all older than I) have sent me messages saying: what's this all about! Is this a trick? One--who pretty clearly doesn't think highly of me (and the feeling is mutual)-barked: can you give me one good reason why I should accept this (answer: actually, no)?

Some 20-odd people have accepted. But here's the thing: I sent the invite out about 3 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. Of those who accepted, the vast majority accepted within an hour of my first mailing.

Conclusion: I've got a lot of friends who have nothing better to do on Sunday afternoon than sit around at the computer waiting for email from me.

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