LinkedIn, or My Chance at Popularity

Recently, it came to my attention that 2008 will be my 20 year high school reunion. I'm experiencing a lot of mixed emotions, stress, excitement, need to eat, need to starve, etc, etc. I never was a popular kid. I suppose that was a good thing. If you aren't a cool kid, you experience less pressure to do stupid things. I could always shrug off my unpopularity by acting like I didn't care what other people thought of me. I believe that was true for the most part, but I'd also be lying to say that I didn't want to be popular.

I don't generally dwell on my high school dramas, but the realization that my reunion is coming up, I find myself thinking about this question: how is popularity measured among adults?

I signed up for LinkedIn a month ago, for research purposes. I didn't do much with my pages (similar to my approach to blogging, myspace, etc). But I got some invitations to join networks, to my delight. For a few moments, I felt popular.

Tonight, in the absence of real TV, I decided to work on my profile. How exciting it was to find so many of my friends on the site. Way more friends on LinkedIn than are actually reading this silly diatribe. I couldn't help myself. As I was reviewing some profiles, seeing how many people are "linked in", I suddenly had flashbacks to my high school days. No prom date for me. Just a few people - well, my closest friends, in my network.

This time, I'm being more proactive. Because I do care what people think. I do want people to like me. And so, with much glee, I spent much of the night reaching out to old classmates, current and past colleagues, and others whose paths I've crossed. I may not have 500 contacts in my network, as one friend does (she is REALLY popular), but I hope to have more than three.

I share this all with you, the one of you who is reading this, in the hopes that you will sign up for LinkedIn, accept my invitation, or invite me to be in your network. After all, if we work together, we too can be popular!