Whose Network Is It Anyway?

By Edgar Valdmanis

A few weeks ago there was an interestng discussion in a LinkedIn forum called MyLinkedInPowerForum(MLPF). One of the forum members posted a message saying a friend of his had had to give up his LinkedIn login details to his employer when resigning. I find this strange, and would like to see if the SoundOff readers can carry the discussion forward:

A) Of course the company can *legally* claim rights to what was acquired or built on company time with company resources (PC, Internet, etc.)

B) Inheriting a database with names has close to zero value for someone who doesn't have a relationship beyond the names. The database is then only a list of salesleads, and not even that.

C) A network built on LinkedIn, Ryze, Facebook, Xing or a similar site is not a CRM database. These networks consist of clients, friends, alumni etc., so they cannot be used  for any type of marketing effort by the company. It is actually a replica of what’s in my head, and only I know which of these I can suddenly put to good use for my company.

D) Most professional networkers network 24/7/365. Since they don't get paid 24/7/365, then parts of the database are built at no cost to the company

E) Part of my network that my current employer benefits from was built on some other employers time and cost, and my current employer benefits for free

F) Part of what I build today will not be ready for 'harvesting' before sometime in the future when I may have changed jobs again.

Would be interesting to hear other professionals views on this topic.

Edgar Valdmanis is the marketing director of the Norwegian Computer Society, and president of Meeting Professionals Norway Chapter.

Comments

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[TJ McCue]

I agree with Enrique and you, Edgar. Outrageous. Foolish on the employer's part.

I guess there is a small expectation that IF the employer paid for an account for the employee, they would be entitled to that account detail. The better way to go about it would be for the employer to simply get a printout of all the people on the LinkedIn account and those that were specifically related to the company, they could keep contacting.

Otherwise, if they didn't pay for the account -- i'd let them try to take me to court over it. 24/7/365 is right. You and I have shared messages at midnight, Edgar, so clearly the employer is off base in claiming someone's outside database.

[Enrique Burgos]

I cant believe it! Give your login details of anyplace! this is absolutely ilegal, sure, i'm not a legal expert, but is like given them your email password or your credit card pin code...
I agree with you with all the 24/7/365 stuff, nowadays we are blackberry 24/7 connected to work...amazing