So I read that Bill Gates, yes that Bill Gates, has joined LinkedIn. I jump on and hunt for Mr. Microsoft only to find a question that he posed but, alas, I can't access his profile. It seems he employed the privacy setting that limits his profile to folks who share a connection with him. That's not me, aparently; I'm obviously not connecting with the right people.
His question -- How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology? -- spurred more than 3,000 replies. And it has helped LinkedIn advertise the fact that it will be offering its users ways to update their status through a new tool it's developed.
The whole idea of "status" is an interesting one.
I use Twitter now and again, which is a way to let folks know what i'm doing, thinking, planning that exact minute. My AOL IM allows for a status message to be shown and, of course, there is my facebook profile that I update with "Tim is .....".
Who needs to know what I'm doing at 10:15 a.m. compared to what i'm doing at 2:33 p.m.? Why do I need to know what folks are doing that exact minute? Fair questions, no? I follow a couple web guys who talk about interesting projects they are working on, in between Twitters about how hungry they are. Not sure what I'm getting out of those kinds of conversations.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are Twittering. At least their appointed staff members are Twittering. Maybe that builds a sense of community around the candidates, but the Twitters are pretty boring.
Does status matter online? Maybe, but I'm not yet convinced.
