How Much Personal Information Should We Share on LinkedIn?
Lori Thicke
Author, Entrepreneur & Founder of Translators without Borders, Lexcelera & LexWorks
It all started with an automatic update from my personal blog. A week or so ago, I wrote a long, heartfelt blog post. Then, thinking hardly anyone would happen upon that blog entry anyway, I hit the Publish button. I forgot that years ago I had given WordPress permission to automatically send out updates to my networks on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Usually, that doesn't bother me. My personal blog, www.lorithicke.com, is not really personal. When I blog - infrequently - it's usually on topics surrounding language issues, such as "Everybody Speaks English... Don't They?" As the founder of Translators without Borders, issues of language and development preoccupy me.
But this time was different. My father died six weeks ago, and my blog was about what a colorful, wonderful eccentric he was, and my unconventional upbringing with him as a single father. I wrote about traveling across Canada in a van after our uninsured house burned down ("Well kids, now we're free"), and how sometimes we were forced to live in youth hostels.
The only problem is that the link to my ultra-personal blog was automatically sent out to all my professional contacts on LinkedIn, my Twitter followers and all the people I am friends with on Facebook. Not what I was intending.
Today, people I know primarily through my professional life, who are acquainted with me as the CEO of a translation company, or the founder of a non-profit, now know way more about my personal life than I am comfortable with. Will they ever see me the same way now that they have read about my unorthodox upbringing?
I don't know the answer to this question. But at the end of the day, I think I am at peace with my inadvertent over-sharing. When near-strangers first started writing to say they'd enjoyed my story, I felt vulnerable, as if I were appearing naked in front of virtually everyone I know. But now I am seeing things in a different light. Maybe a tiny bit of sharing is not such a bad thing.
I'm thinking of the people I know only on LinkedIn, the people whose tweets I follow, the Facebook friends I haven't yet met, and I'm wishing I knew more about them. How many colorful stories are hiding behind those postage stamp photos? I'm guessing a lot.
Before the Internet, we had the chance to know the people we did business with, whether they were customers or our office mates. But today's virtual business relationships lack that person-to-person contact. Is it time for social sharing to become socially acceptable?
To start the trend, I'm putting myself out there. Naked.
PhD, Profesora universitaria @ Universidad de Zaragoza | Doctorado en Contabilidad y Finanzas
1 个月Impressive, I love how you write and yees, I am seeing this seven years later!! I needed to read this.
Corporate Terminologist
6 年Lori, I happen to read this post just now and for what it’s worth: personally I think one is adding value (even to a business relationship) when revealing some personal facets, as it makes it easier to really “connect” to the person who is sharing some part of theirs that otherwise would remain hidden behind an appearance that might otherwise seem controlled (or even artificial, if too “polished”). Doing business with someone who somehow trusted me enough to share personal information with me is so much more engaging than a business relationship that is only about crunching numbers, KPIs and ROI :-) With that said, all the best and thank you for sharing!
Senior Translator
7 年It makes you so much more human if I may say so.
Director of Social Purpose, Impact and Culture I Certified Organizational Purpose Coach I Certified Change Agent (CCA) I Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) I Inner Development Goals (IDGs)
7 年I loved your blog. Well written, witty, and as you said, naked... stripped from self-censorship. Naked could be liberating.
Commissions currently open. Consider a portrait of a pet, or a favorite landscape from your photos. See @laurawatercolor on Instagram for samples of my work. Hundreds of happy people have enjoyed my affordable service.
7 年Lori I've known who your were for a long time, but only felt like I actually knew you after reading that whole long long and amazing story of hope and tenacity. Stories of origin, luck, and history are interesting to me right now because I am navigate my own transition (becoming an artist after a career in localization). I've thought about you and your dad's story several times since reading it. In today's world I'm always wondering if it's harder or easier than even a generation back. In some ways I think harder. If you write a book, I'd buy it. Good luck.