Time for some social media spring cleaning

This is the time of the year when I become motivated to clear through the clutter and do some spring cleaning. Last weekend, I plowed through files that had been piling up on my shelves. There were old notes from stories I had written years ago, clips from old newspaper articles, bills that had been paid, but not filed: You get the picture. Needless to say my shredder got a workout.

Now that the real clutter has been pared down, it’s time to clear through the virtual clutter in my life. I recently read a story on LinkedIn about how you should go through past invitations sent, but never accepted, and withdraw them. There have been a few occasions when this has happened. For whatever reason people have chosen to ignore my request, or perhaps (and I am giving them the benefit of the doubt here) they simply forgot to click the accept button. I found a few and withdrew.

Next, I decided it was time to go through my own existing connections, which are in the hundreds, and see who needed to go. It was a daunting task, but after I started reviewing them I realized I needed to take my spring cleaning to the next level and start the "unlinking" process.

When I was a reporter many of my LinkedIn connections were made because I interviewed these people for stories I wrote. Others were public relations people who pitched stories to me. Still others were people I met in passing and the next day I received an invitation to connect. That’s not to say these folks are not worth keeping.

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But when you start going through connections and simply don’t remember who the people are, or why you LinkedIn to them, it’s time to re-evaluate. Many of those on LinkedIn are simply not active, some to the point of not even having a profile picture. Others have had three other jobs since last updating their profile, again not very active on LinkedIn. You may not agree, but for me that’s a reason to hit the disconnect button.

I use LinkedIn for business, it’s a great place to network, learn and share information. I have read article on why you should have thousands of connections and I have read other articles about why you need to be more selective. I choose the later.

By the way, it’s not as easy as it used to be to unlink – LinkedIn makes you do a little digging. Go to the top of the page and click on “connections.” You can search for them by recent conversation, last name, first name, or even new. Next, hover over the connection’s name with your cursor. Several choices will come up – tag, message and more. Under the more tab will be the option to remove connection. Just click, and off they go.

Before you say adios, LinkedIn warns you that you will lose the following:

•     Your relationship notes
•     The ability to send “this person” messages
•     Notifications about job changes
•     “This person’s” updates and shared content
•     All endorsements and recommendations exchanged between the two of you

It’s never easy to say goodbye, but sometimes it’s for the best. Now off to re-evaluate who my friends are on Facebook and who I need to be following on Twitter.

Susan R. Miller is founder of Garton-Miller Media, a full-service, South Florida-based public relations firm. Susan is a former journalist with more than 30 years of experience. She has written for local, state and national publications. Her clients include attorneys, non-profit organizations and healthcare professionals.