November/December 2019

More articles in this issue:

• The Future of Travel
• Innovation Entrepreneur Awards Celebrate Life-Changing Tech
• Health Sensing in Cars
• Quibi CEO Meg Whitman
• Biometrics: You and Only You

I was born in 1981 and at some point, over the last five years I have been lumped into the millennial cohort. I certainly don’t feel like I belong with Generation X, but my date of birth gave me experiences and forged relationships with social media that could fit into both worlds. But these platforms are not a magical cure-all, and I’ve found very limited long-term success with social network platforms, both in business and in life.

Here’s my 2019 end-of-year social media rankings, my own two cents about its usefulness — or lack thereof — for tech businesses. Have a thought? Share it with me on your favorite social media platform. You’ll find me @JakeSigal.

LinkedIn ★★★★☆

I have a very weird LinkedIn connections list. It consists only of “current” connections I have in business. Every year, I go through and purge my connections list with a simple process. First, I delete anyone if I can’t remember who they are. Then I delete anyone I haven’t talked to in the last year. I also keep LinkedIn contacts business-only. 

After being on LinkedIn for 12 years, I’ve noticed I’ve felt pressure from other people’s success. I recently moved the LinkedIn app from my home screen on my phone to a second screen and also had to mute some people; not for posting inappropriate political nonsense, but by oversharing their successes. As is the case in real life, I believe promoting yourself or your company on LinkedIn should be done in moderation. 

I have found LinkedIn incredibly valuable for doing research on new business contacts, to learn about their background and their role within their company. As the platform has grown, I’ve found long-term uses and I can’t imagine going a week in business without searching for something or someone on LinkedIn.

Facebook ★☆☆☆☆

After migrating from Myspace to Facebook around 2007, I was fascinated by its ability to reconnect me with people and by the networking power that provided. But what I eventually found was that my relationships were weakened due to the lack of personalization. It became too easy to overshare and I felt empty. I left Facebook in 2012 and never looked back. I recently created a “burner” account to check group cycling rides, and I was blown away by the friend suggestions. It’s frankly scary to think about the amount of aggregated data compiled on people in and out of the platform.

Twitter ★★★★☆

Twitter is one of my favorite social media tools. Its simplicity and public nature are awesome. I’m not a Twitter power user, but I aspire to use it more. I’ve found that it’s a great way to find out what’s happening now in business, and also a cool way to connect with the business community. I appreciate the informality of Twitter, especially when networking at shows or events. Twitter is also one of the few channels of communication where it’s acceptable to only follow (to listen) and not engage. If only Twitter would remove its alerts for things it thinks I would like to follow, it would be five stars.