Recently I stopped following a well-known sales guru on LinkedIn because I felt he breached LinkedIn etiquette. I bought all his books and I have them on my bookshelf. He stopped publishing books in the early 2010s and disappeared until he returned to LinkedIn last year.
Earlier this year my LinkedIn news feed included a post from the guru. He liked a post from one of his connections who posted a photo that supported a political candidate. Disappointed, I immediately stopped following the guru and blocked him.
I see the Please Keep Professional graphic above in my LinkedIn news feed occasionally, and this is a controversial topic. Some people feel they can post what they want because there are no rules saying you can’t.
I’m in the camp that feels that you choose to join a social media website and you know who the audience is, so you’ve implicitly agreed how to behave. In the case of LinkedIn, the etiquette is to keep posts and discussions professional. That is, talk about business topics and keep personal discussions to issues that affect your business, such as how I run my business after I received bad health news.
I’ll keep blocking people on LinkedIn who send me posts I feel don’t meet the standards of LinkedIn etiquette, but that’s my choice. I’m interested in your thoughts about what you think etiquette means for each social media site you use. Please comment and let me know. Full disclosure: I may include your feedback in a social media book I may start writing later this summer.