When we mention Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social networking platforms in meetings with clients we often hear “Who has the time?”. Indeed, who has the time to maintain a profile, post updates, keep tabs on colleagues when the benefits are so nebulous. There have to be better reasons than altruism for individuals or businesses to participate in online social networks.

Here’s an example of why someone might participate in a social network: A former client wrote an unsolicited recommendation for me on LinkedIn today. When I accepted his recommendation to be displayed on my profile I was immediately presented with a prompt to provide a reciprocal recommendation. I wrote a few sentences about the person right there on the spot.

Social networks thrive on reciprocity. Think your Facebook page is boring? Post stuff on your friend’s walls. Wish your brother was posting more photos of your new nephew? Post your own photos for him to see. Want to beef up your profile in LinkedIn? Recommend your colleagues.

In a virtual world, where the rewards are not directly financial, there have to be other reasons why people participate. Straight out altruism is one reason, but not one you can take to the bank. Peter Kollock has outlined three non-altruistic reasons people might participate:

* Anticipated reciprocity
* Increased recognition
* Sense of efficacy

All three of Kollock’s reasons are interesting to both individuals and to businesses.

What do you think?

The title of Richard Lanham’s new book The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information, got my attention. If anything is a “scarce resource” today, it is mental bandwidth, and Lanham makes a powerful case for how much of our economic and social energy is consumed by the effort to attract attention, as we have moved from being an economy based on “stuff” (substance) to an economy based on “fluff” (style). The core skills in this new economy are no longer the physical sciences, engineering and traditional economics – “The arts and letters now stand at the center.” Every chapter of the book is followed by a section of “background conversations” that serve as hyperlinks or extended footnotes, referencing the books and articles informing and elaborating on the main themes. With a background as a scholar in medieval literature, Lanham’s observations are informed by a deep engagement with Western culture, but the writing is lively and never burdened with excessive erudition.