LinkedIn Collaborative Articles, Threads, and Your Business Relationships - Are They for a Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime?

Three things happened within a week of each other that got me thinking about the poem by Brian A. Chalker that starts with, “People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.”

The first was visiting the LinkedIn Offices in the Empire State Building for a Collaborative Articles Day (Amazing day. Thank you Leah Shin .) The second was the launch of the new social media platform called Threads.

Some features or products come at a time when we need them. Think of Clubhouse when we were stuck in our homes during the pandemic and we were craving community and conversation. To me that’s for a reason. I personally haven’t been there in months. Have you?

At the Collaborative Articles Day, we learned more about the thinking of this new feature. In case you haven’t heard of them, they are AI-Generated Articles on all sorts of topics that people can contribute to in order to make them better, and they do need to be made better. The basic articles are just that, very basic, and sound like Chat GPT wrote them.

At first I wasn’t impressed with the feature, but jumped right in to test it. I like to thoroughly experiment with any LinkedIn feature to advise my clients about them.?Then, I actually met people through their comments or because they responded to mine. That was an unexpected result. Real conversations and relationships can be made and last a lifetime on any platform.

One of the panelists completely changed my perspective. You know me, I have no fear or writer’s block when it comes to creating content, but not everyone is like me. Temi Obaisi, MPA described how these articles can be good for people who aren’t comfortable creating their own content. It’s like how it’s easier to join a conversation than start one.?THIS. This is the possibility for these articles, to create conversations and allow people who don't typically contribute to do so.

I encourage you to check out the articles and see if it makes sense for you to contribute. A directory can be found here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/topics/home/

Be aware that not everyone has access to contribute at this time. You can learn more here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/a1443723/collaborative-articles-faq

Do I think these articles will be for a reason, a season, or a lifetime? I don't know. Time will tell.

Next, was the launch of Threads, the new Twitter-like platform from Meta that you couldn’t help but hear about. Are you there?

You may not know this, since I focus on LinkedIn now, but Twitter was my first “social media love.” It changed my life, but it was for a season. Back in 2010 I thought I was looking for a new job and I was introduced to Twitter. Amazing conversations were happening, communities were forming, and the negative behaviors we see there now were not there, or not prevalent.

Threads feels like Twitter of 2011, and I’m loving it. Again, time will tell if this grows in a way that we not just sign up but go back again and again.?It may not matter either way. There are people I am still friends with and colleagues with that I met on Twitter, so the platform was for a season for me, but the relationships are proving to be for a lifetime.

Think about all the social platforms that have come and gone (Google Plus, or remember Blab?).

How would you group the following platforms, either reason, season, or lifetime?

• LinkedIn?
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• TikTok
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Snap Chat
• Mastodon

The third thing that happened was that I led a webinar due to my role as an Exactly What to Say Certified Guide called "How to re-approach existing contacts on LinkedIn to create new opportunities." We all have more connections than we truly know. Your existing network is filled with people you met at a conference but never spoke with or a one-time client (a reason), people you worked with or long-time clients (a season), and true referral partners and friends (a lifetime).

For a platform to be for a season or a lifetime it must help you meet your goals for being there, business or personal. The same can be said for any community, organization, networking group, or your relationships with your clients. Allowing relationships to be what they are and not force them to be something else, is very important, but at the same time, we should all be thinking about how to make the relationships go beyond the transactional (reason) and move into a season or a lifetime.

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