The interweb is littered with the detritus of my greed and/or optimism: user names from quickly discarded affinity programs; the brokerage account I set up to score 50 MyPoints; ancient reviews I stubbornly refuse to take down from epinions because they are the last remnants of what used to be a useful tool created by a vital, interesting community before it was taken over by the twit parade and made an appropriate commodity for the likes of eBay. One of my long-lost doody deposits emailed me back the other day. I can't remember exactly why I signed up for LinkedIn, or, as I like to call it, that classmates-dot-com sibling who put 2,000 miles and a 4-year degree between it and the trailer park, but still isn't fooling anybody but itself; probably one of my caffeine-fueled attempts to get serious about "networking" and "growing my business" (which, as you can guess by the elaborate portfolio I have set up on the left sidebar and cleverly named "Photo Albums", is working like a charm).
But LinkedIn dangled an irrestibly orange and well-formed carrot in front of me: the name of a long-lost friend who apparently had added himself to the LinkedIn system, too.
What's more, they helpfully wrote that tricky reconnect email for me, all I had to do was point and click:
14 hours later, the interweb worked its magic and I received this communiqué from my long-lost pal:
I'm confused.
Are you working for Amway now?
Please do not contact me again.
Signed,
[Name redacted for reasons of privacy.]
Well, color me corrected! LinkedIn works! It really, really works! I mean, maybe we're not sitting down for coffee and a long jaw yet, but it's a start! And all thanks to the infinitely interconnective, completely customizable meet-up of science and commerce.
It is truly a great time to be alive.
xxx c