The Trouble with Social Media

I have been blogging for over two years as well as using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for some time now.  I enjoy each of them very much.  However, I have found a major downside.......the unwanted solicitations from every consultant who has ever logged onto a computer or driven by a hospital.  I am inundated with invitations to meet; webinars to attend; services to buy; equipment to lease and the list goes on. 

My favorite that I get almost daily is the underling who is connecting with me on behalf of their boss since the boss will be in my area visiting other clients on a particular day and time.  So, when can we meet?  But, only specific dates and times are provided.  Be serious!  First of all, can't you even make believe that you are making the contact directly with me?  You are soooooo busy that you are reaching out to do business with me via your office staff.  Quite honestly, the days of having your secretary make your calls for you or sending your emails are over.  It's demeaning to me as well as your employee. 

Then there is "IN THE AREA VISITING OTHER CLIENTS," really?  We are two hours to the nearest major city with very few hospitals in between.  Then I get, he or she can meet between 1 PM and 3PM on this specific date or 10 AM and noon on another date.  Wait a minute, you want to do business with me and you provide a window to meet that is convenient for you, really? 

So, what is the solution?  Well for me, I only friend people on Facebook whom I know.  The same with Twitter.  With LinkedIn, I do not connect with anyone who has the potential to extract money from me or the health system by selling me their product or service.  As for my blog, all of my information is out there.  The best I could do would be to have IT tighten that spam filter just a little tighter.  What I would like to do is for every person who contacts me on behalf of their bosses with the extremely high opinion of themselves who will be in the area on a specific day and time, make the appointment and then not be available.  They may figure out a better way to make contact for a potential meeting if that were to happen to them enough times.  Fortunately or unfortunately, I am too nice and too respectful to do such a thing, but I am there are times that I am so tempted.  Actually, by the end of the day I have a very sore finger deleting the many unsolicited emails that I get as a result of my love for social media.