Stowe Boyd (who has moved his blog, btw) points at Esther Dyson’s blog, wherein she acknowledges that she likes LinkedIn, and offers some hints at etiquette of social networks.

I was recently told of a case wherein an introduction (and subsequent conversations) resulted in a job offer. The person who made the introduction didn’t find out until he was the recipient of a “landed” email message that went out to many different distribution lists at the same time. He was a bit dejected that he hadn’t received a personal communication with a thank you for providing the introduction in the first place, or an acknowledgment of some. Let’s just say that some social capital was lost.

Social capital, reputation, and “relationship currency” (the phrase used by the Rhythm of Business folks), are all at play in social software, Lori Wizdo pointed out to me over drinks in Philly on Tuesday night. (Lori is the VP of Marketing at Kamoon, and is really attuned to the social network consequences of expertise location.) She was very miffed at a colleague to whom she had provided my name — miffed that he hadn’t followed up with me until she pinged him over the head with big “AHEM”.

This reminded me of the etiquette involved, as etiquette has alway provided clues for saving grace (and social capital). It’s true as Lori says, when you make an introduction, or request an introduction, or fail to follow up on a connection, you are tendering social capital. Norms are going to play a very big role, and Esther’s blog has pointed out a few.