[SEE UPDATES TO THIS POST AFTER THE PICTURE]
I’m posing this as a title because I haven’t done enough homework on this, but I’ve been getting some invites to Konnects lately, and I don’t ever see myself joining. Here’s one big reason: the site’s profile rankings are based on how many people you invite, which seems to be a cheap ploy to get people to spam others. From the Konnects site:
The more connections you have in your network the
better the chances of new opportunities coming your way. You could be
the most networked person in your city!
Those two paragraphs sum up so much of what’s wrong with it. First of all, it’s about the quality of a network, not the quantity of people in it that matters. Secondly, who really wants to be “top networker”? Show me a “top networker” at a party, and I’ll show you the guy I’m desperately trying to avoid.
Oh, and if I needed any other reasons to avoid the site, check out the stock photos they use. Wow, token black guy with scarily straight posture can befriend constipated white dude who uses hair gel to compensate for his receding hairline! Sweet!
UPDATE:
Kevin from Connects posted a comment with a different point of
view on this post, though I believe there are better ways to motivate
people than encouraging them to spam others.
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide commentsKonnects is NOT a Business Network that is inspired by spammers. Konnects is in fact very much against spam. I believe there is a misunderstanding. We are only motivating people to use their network and use the site. If you write a recommendation for another member, you get a point. If you find someone on the site that could be a great help to someone else and you refer that person to your colleague then that is a point.
Give Konnects a try, it’s free to sign up and I think you will see the difference from other networks. It is our hope that you personally will find some value since you are a professional marketer.
Hi David,
I completely understand your frustration with the “more is better” attitude of many social networkers.
Like many phenomenons social networking is still in its infancy and many users are still caught up in the “more is better” attitude. Unfortunately a network of 2000 strangers might not ever amount to anything but a vacant profile.
Check out our tool. http://www.referralkey.com/ Referral Key requires that you add your “real-life” networking associates to begin exchanging referrals but the results are “real-life” as well.
Please let us know what you think.
Best,
Chris