Business Social Network Uprising

Would you walk up to a stranger on the street and ask him to become your friend? Would you shove your telephone number and e-mail address into his pocket and tell him you want to follow him?

This morning I went to my computer and received my usual e-mails from people wanting me to join their LinkedIn network and my usual e-mail notifications of people who have started following me on Twitter expecting me in return to follow them and I thought, this is utter madness.

I decided there and then that I was no longer going to conform. I am better than this. I decided that I would no longer subscribe to a way of dealing with people that corrupts and undermines our social and human values.

Technology is there for us to use not the other way around. I have spoken so many times in my articles here in HubPages and in my Word Press Blog about how we identify with our minds and bodies never realising that they are but tools at our disposal and not the other way round. By choosing to identify with mind or body or both we relinquish our power and our minds and our bodies then take control of us.

The same thing is happening with the way we use technology. We are following the crowd without question. Every time you follow a person because that person clicked a button to follow you proves that you are simply following the crowd, just in case!!

There is no just in case. If someone has a huge following it simply means that he clicked the same “follow” button more than someone else. It says nothing of his character or what he stands for.

I decided to be different today I started a rebellion and I chose Linked In to make my stand. I made a list of of all the people who asked me to join their Linked in network and I sent each one a personal message telling them about myself and what I stood for. I explained to them that I was not satisfied simply following the crowd any longer and if they wanted to be part of my network then they would have to tell me about themselves and what they stood for.

I explained that communication had become twisted and we have grown used to the lies that people tell us in order to sell us something. I was tired of all of that and wanted to nurture a mutually beneficial relationship where by we could help each other promote our message. I sent them four links, each to an article that states clearly what my message is, what I do, what I stand for and what I want to give the world.

I asked each of them to read what I had sent them and decide whether or not they agreed with what I stood for and if not for them to be honest enough with themselves to let me go. If indeed they liked what I stood for then for them to promote my message and I in turn would do the same for them if I liked what they had to say. I told them that I was not interested in selling them anything nor was I interested in buying anything from them. I wanted to start having meaningful relationships with people who wanted the same things I wanted for the world so we could join forces and be more effective.

I have already received many replies. Some from people who are wary of my intentions but they will soon see that I am exactly what is written on the label of my can so there is potential there. There were others who obviously had not even read my e-mail properly let alone the links I had sent and they usually started with some smarmy sales pitch and an invitation to their website where I could purchase for a limited time only, the answer to every hypnotherapist's wish. They had discovered the best method ever to cure everyone of everything and it all came in a flash to the founder of that company as he lay in his bunk in Folsom prison. They were deleted from my network post haste.

Then there were the messages from people who spoke to me across the airwaves like I had been reunited with long lost sisters and brothers. They were genuinely excited at the prospect of being internet rebels and developing a meaningful professional relationship with people who have something in common.

I think it is time the human race stopped what it is doing and realise that we created the technology to serve us not to destroy our social fabric. I challenge you all to reconsider your relationships on the net and ask yourself what exactly are you getting out of following or being followed by hundreds or thousands of people you don't know?

You can make a difference. Just stop doing what everyone else is doing and think before next you click that "follow" button again just because everyone else does! Choose who you follow carefully and those followers who would tarnish your very valuable reputation.