Ousted Wal-Mart Execs Update their LinkedIn Profiles First

LinkedIn Quote of the Day:

LinkedIn is like MySpace for the business-school set. Instead of bad poetry, friend lists and beer-pong photos, users post resumes, resumes, and, uh, resumes. Like other social networks, however, it does feature testimonials.

- Matthew Creamer in Advertising Age, “Social Network Says Julie Roehm’s Headed to Manhattan“, on the ouster of Wal-Mart SVP of Marketing Julie Roehm

Forget the press release, LinkedIn is now apparently a good place for ousted senior executives to announce their next career moves. Interestingly, though, which the article doesn’t mention, Sean Womack’s profile mentions the creation of this new company, but Julie Roehm’s doesn’t, which doesn’t seem quite consistent with what Roehm told Ad Age:

In a phone interview, Ms. Roehm said there’s no company in the works. She said she chose the word Delta as a placeholder “because it’s a symbol for change” and New York as a location because it’s where many marketing and media opportunities are. She added that the likelihood of her starting a business with Mr. Womack is “very remote.”

Will LinkedIn become the next venue for executive soap operas? Doubtful, but you never know.

Scott Allen is a true social media pioneer, helping turn virtual relationships into real business since 2002. He is coauthor of The Virtual Handshake, the first book on using social media for business, and contributor to over a dozen books on social media, marketing & entrepreneurship. He consults on digital strategy to a limited client base, focusing the rest of his energy on NFN8 Media, a growing network of niche websites.