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Users of the business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn who are based in Orange County are sick of being considered part of "greater Los Angeles." One user, Laguna Niguel's Sven Johnston, has "spearheaded the campaign to get the O.C. recognition," apart from L.A. explains the OC Register's Jan Norman in a blog post.
Johnston, who works in Irvine, "started pushing in May for Orange County recognition and formed a LinkedIn group called We Are Orange County that quickly grew to more than 3,000 members." Among the many points raised by Johnston in his contact with the site's leaders was that "Orange County has its own identity in business, in networking and every other aspect of life." (Angelenos, are you nodding in agreement?) Another issue raised is that if you're conducting business via the site it's misleading to think an OC company is in the LA area:
Members received job offers just to find out that their commute would be over 3 hours, because the recruiter thought they lived in Los Angeles. Linkedin is about connecting online, but it is also heavily used for people to connect offline. There is a considerable difference if one has to drive 10 or 100 miles to meet someone for coffee.
It looks like LinkedIn may be getting hip to the cries of those behind the Orange Curtain who wish to distinguish themselves from the LA fold. Says Bill Crane, the VP of engineering at the site, "local members of the social networking site may have Orange County as a geographic designation for members’ profiles within two weeks."
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The other side of it is the problems people who live on the borders of the two counties encounter. Some sites (e.g. Facebook) only allow you to associate with one or the other, leaving half my potential network out. Don't know how LinkedIn will handle it, but if I still lived just east of Long Beach like I used to, I'd be bummed at having to choose between the two.
I live in "the OC", and for practical purposes it makes sense for OC to be a separate identity on Linkedin, Facebook, or what have you. And, unfortunately, OC does have a much different culture than LA...it is much less evolved! Hopefully more OCers will take the cue from LA and become a little less judgmental and gain a little individuality!
Can someone please send this post to the Angels baseball team?
THAAAAAAANK YOOOOOOOOU!!!!
This is a very timely story. I'm on Linkedin quite a bit these days in search of my next great opportunity.
I understand OC wanting to create a separate geographic designation.
OC is a separate metropolitan statistical area (MSA) according to the feds:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/NumberPortability/msas.html
I think it's reasonable, given SoCal's lack of convenient transit options and problems with traffic congestion.
My alma mater, UCLA creates networking groups based on geographic region (L.A., Valley, OC) so Linkedin should too.
It's a prudent proposal and technically feasible, so why not?
Though I suspect there's a bit of that sibling rivalry undercurrent to the request as well, but who cares if it results in a more accurate networking product.
Cheers!
This piece so should have been in "OCist."
I cant stand OC. They are a bunch of racists posers living on credit cards and trust funds. You can have your own linkedin section . .why not? The corrupt ex-sheriff of OC has his own section in state prison. I wonder what would happen if he didnt? Maybe the racist comments that came to light during his trial would cause problems?
I think we should find out!
It's sad. No one respects LA. On the east coast, if you're from NJ, you pass yourself off as a NYer. You WANT to be included in NY networks. But not here. even if you're from Long Beach, you make sure they know you are NOT from LA.