My dear friends,

I am very sorry. This whole social media/networking thing is so awkward, so extremely uncomfortable. I've been unable to either properly embrace it or walk away from it and finally, buckling to my extreme desire to get The Louise Log out to its audience, am trying to find a way to work it. "But always with integrity" I tell myself.

And then yesterday, asking people to connect on LinkedIn, one at a time, with a note I had written to each, something happened on the LinkedIn website and the flood gates opened. I was no longer able to send a note, the situation had shifted so that if I didn't UNCHECK boxes, many hundreds of people I'd never even heard of or, at best, know but have no real relationship with, were going to be sent an invitation from me to 'LinkIn'. Whattttt.

Well, I'm a modern person. And I'm capable of reacting to a fast-changing situation, even on the internet. I'll just uncheck. I will not send invitations to people I don't know. Within seconds, I'd adapted. Unfortunately, so had my rationalizing mind: "Only sending to people I actually know is the definition of correct behavior. I'm sure some people would just 'Invite All' (we've all received invitations from people we don't know)." it rattled on. And on.

I tried to not wince as I passed over (leaving checked) the people to whom I would normally be sending a note. Hey, the basis of social media is connecting. This faceless, anonymous email 'invitation' sent out by a robot is not human or warm nor does it feel like a connection. It felt weird. Hey I'll think it over before sending. Whaaaa? No send button? It's all over? They've been SENT?

If you were one of the people who received my cold corporately written 'invitation', I apologize. It wasn't my (non-existent) intern or 'team' of interns who sent it-- it was me. In the future, I'll try to do better.