OM You’ve become Spam – Misuse of Social Media

OM (Old Man in ham-speak) You’ve become Spam – Misuse of Social Media:

Recently a spent twenty minutes thumbing down LinkedIn “unfollowing” masses of folk that somehow got elevated to clutter.

Used the basic guideline that if I have not spoken to you in years, don’t expect to speak to you anytime soon, and the content I end up with from “following them” is not high value/interest, the get muted/unfollowed/deemphasized.

A lot were radio amateurs who while we share a hobby we otherwise haven’t crossed paths.

That someone with a callsign “likes” a charity in Podunk Someplace it neither an actionable bit of information for me, nor bluntly beyond being empathetic on the most abstract does it impact my life.

Business Social media has become crap actually.

Where once 98% of what was presented to you was skills, careers and opportunities, it has largely become disconnected from anything business.

You want to talk about Cancer, tell me what is happening, where I can invest to support efforts and maybe – just maybe – you own story if it has a professional angle.

That someone down your streets grandchild has a classmate that is sick with Cancer is maybe something you share at your coffee clutch, as I can neither do much about it nor with the sketchy information send the words of encouragement that spin off from my prayers for them.

Those who post, repost and do mostly this sort of thing got axed.

Likewise with those who I can’t even recognize their names.

Some ham changed from posting ham information from their world to social stuff. Really don’t need several posts a day from your company’s PR team congratulating employee-X for their services up to retirement. Or if you all went to a ball game.

Honestly those sort of posts are talking to yourself and virtue-signaling, and dilute both what you and your company is about.

If your social media includes pronouns, mostly likely I gave you the axe. It is less about the pronouns, but more about the arrogance that you expect to tell me how to address you. A bit presumptuous that I would join into your panderings. Doesn’t matter much as I changed your pronouns for you – to Done/Gone and unfollowed you lest I get crossways with your haughtiness.

That leads to a few other scoundrels like your old school for an example.

Most of these organizations have so changed over the decades as to be weak shadows of their former selves. They collectively have forgotten that when I attended not only did I live or die by my scores and grades, but that my fees were fully paid and as a “WASP” they reduced my scholarships to $50 where a non-white would have gotten tuition (I refused the check, said they could give it to one of the needy) and my entrance scores were burdened because they had just started the EO programs. They forget that I worked, in most cases full time, to earn my way, and even traded computer programming skills to the University for tuition to earn my way through.

They likely never knew that I finished undergraduate and grad school with minimal debt, the amount that was cleared within the first year of employment.

Yet they use Business Social Media to lobby how I should send them money now? This is so stupid, almost like the wedding hall where your reception was held asking for money years later, claiming “you had a nice party, now pay for someone else’s party now please.” Ain’t happening.

Some of the nonsense I guess will continue as I avoided nuking clients, vendors and truly pivotal industry figures. I guess so that they feel like they have joined in the non-business frolics they post endlessly on non-business topics. No I really don’t care much about how you had a Elbowian physical/cultural/social exception as an intern at one of your overseas affiliates, and corporately are wishing them well. If you didn’t hire them it was never about their actual contribution in the first place. It sadly was about who you treated them as a “thing” with special shiny attributes and a now flying around like a crow with a bit of foil in its beak, just showing off the shiny.

It is not only Hams who encourage you to connect and they go off into other topics, but among my industry some of the once “pundit types” have become so lame in their activities and posts that they were first in the “nukem” category.

If all you have to say to me is travel to somewhere else in the country to get free drinks (I do not drink, thank you) or to gamble at our association’s mock-casino (I am not a gambler), you have made yourself unimportant enough to be unfollowed. That after being posted their “message” gets no comments and perhaps a single “like” confirms that it is not just me that considers this Spam rather than useful communications.

Outside of ham events periods the radio companies seem to have stopped posting on Business Social Media. Guess they found getting their message out from the clutter a poor ROI?

OM, try not to become Spam, eh?

73

Steve
K9ZW