404 people

Last week I was at the communication industry's largest event, NXTcomm. Again, I was surprised at how few of my colleagues are available by doing an online search and that some of them don't seem to use any social networking tools.

I keep thinking to myself, shouldn't everyone in sales in marketing in the technology industry have a profile in LinkedIn or Spoke? Even my mother has a LinkedIn profile. Am I exaggerating to say everyone in the industry should have online presence?

In my mind, when I meet someone, I don't necessarily have to exchange a business card with them in order to find them. If I know their first name and the company they work for, I should be able to find them. If it's a large company and their name is John, probably I need to know their last name or what department they work in, but in theory, that should be enough to find someone in LinkedIn. Strangely enough, though, it isn't. There were marketing people I couldn't find in a Google search, even when I had their business card in my hand, with every one of their professional details.

I honestly feel puzzled. Is there something wrong with my world view? Are there really that many people who are still wary or have privacy issues? Are they so behind the times they don't list themselves anywhere online? Do they think it is useless to have a listing? What reasons have people given you for not having an online prsence?