Thanks for the update. While I could spend more time looking through the groups, I found your pointers above to restate my current modest uses: rolodex, research, and abbreviated announcements. Please continue updating with notices at http://twitter.com/mashable/ as the platform opening/encouragement attracts more applications.
Jason Alba
· 1 year ago
Bob, interesting comment. I find that people can get passive value out of LinkedIn (by having a strong profile and growing their network (not like crazy, but calculated growth), or active value out of LinkedIn by participating in Answers, Group discussions (relatively new), and actively reaching out to their contacts. I'm guessing you are on the more passive side?
I am THRILLED to see this post. I make most of my social media recommendations around LinkedIn at the high-tech PR firm I work at. I see it as an invaluable channel for both large and small tech companies, especially.
You can check out my rant, which is about how B2B is ignored in SO many social media for business discussions here:
I agree - I've had employers ask to view my LinkedIn profile (and now it is included on my resume) as it allows an individual to list all of their credentials in an organized fashion as well as recommendations from friends/work partners/former employers and a summary of who the person is.
I'm eager to see what LinkedIn has up their sleeve(s) for the future. Partnerships with other job-related websites/applications? Acquisitions?
My ideal job candidate will write em a short email with a personal introduction, and a link to their LinkedIN Profile. The email lets me know why they are interested specifically in working at Passpack and highlight really relevant experience - for the rest of the "CV" I know that since the profile is publicly available, they aren't going to be fudging past experiences (YES, people really do this).
Income Tax India
· 1 year ago
Thanks for the good tips !!
Adriana Iordan
· 1 year ago
Great article. Some of the reasons I like LinkedIn: - easy access to expert advice - expanding contacts - reinforcing business brand (PR visibility) - conducting marketing research
It always disappoints me to read so many people doing backflips over LinkedIn in spite of so many glaring flaws for a business networking tool. Here are two: it does nothing to help broker valuable new relationships easily; and you don't get phone numbers or addresses for any of your contacts. There are more, but these seem like two big oversights for a business contacts site of its standing.
Initially I agree with you. It would be nice to have the capabilities of better brokering and contact info. The way linkedin has set up the model, though, is to own the communication channel. That is their revenue generation point. If I really need to reach out to someone I generally call their company and ask for them . . . but emails . . . that is another problem. There are limitations in terms of what you can do but still a lot of value to be had in finding the right people. I use LinkedIn all the time for this purpose . . . When you need names and emails . . . Jigsaw comes through . . . but all in all both have their limitations. I think if one solution offered both capabilities it would be met with a lot of market resistance. Many users would be hesitant to include themselves and update their profiles if they knew that their info would be available for every cold caller on the planet to spam and dial them. Then their is the whole question of revenue streams . . . what I do see here is a space in between for a third player but that is a conversation for another platform and another time.
Rob Heitzler
Jim Stroud
· 1 year ago
Eric,
I like your comments and had a heated debate with my colleague Karen Mattonen over who owns your Linkedin contacts. If you are on Linkedin and the company you are working for pays for the account upgrade, who do all of those contacts belong to? This was the subject of a podcast tomorrow on my site. Karen thought that the company owns them since they paid for the upgrade, whereas I was fervently against the very notion of that.
I use Linkedin quite a bit to write articles. I am an attorney. If there is a specific legal issue I want to write about, I will submit the issue to all the attorneys in my network. The answers often give me new direction and insight into the subject matter.
margottobed
· 1 year ago
I used Linkedin to get my current job. I searched the job listings and realized the job I wanted was posted by a contact of a business associate... I clicked the 'be introduced' button and voila i had an interview!
Nancy Macdonald
· 1 year ago
Thanks so much for sharing about the pros and cons of being connected socially and for business reasons, and the ability to expose our skill and our passions to more people.
Jim Stroud
· 1 year ago
Wow! What a lively discussion. I said earlier that I was posting a podcast tomorrow debating ownership of Linkedin contacts, but I decided to go ahead and post it now. If you are curious, you can listen to it here:
Here is a tease about what's discussed in the podcast:
If you are a Linkedin Power User and (when it comes to recruiting/sourcing) swear by Linkedin, you DEFINITELY want to listen in to this. WARNING: Do not let your employer hear it however! Jim and Karen debate and get into hissy fits (Jim this time) over who owns your Linkedin contacts. If an employer pays for an account upgrade, does that account still belong to you after you leave the company? Do you think you know the answer?
aaa
· 1 year ago
sadf
John
· 1 year ago
As an employer, I had an issue with LinkedIn that came up recently. I asked one of my salespeople to create a profile on LinkedIn so that he could use it as a networking and mining tool to get contacts for sales leads.
Big mistake.
Without my knowledge or consent, he walked around our office encouraging our production staff (non management, non-sales) to create profiles on LinkedIn for some intangible “seo benefit†or “web 2.0 marketing benefitâ€. He unwittingly created a real problem for me, as now more than half of my staff has basically put their personal resumes online in the form of LinkedIn profiles. I see this as very dangerous for my company, as these employees are not answering questions in the answers area of LinkedIn. My next step is to update my policy manual to make sure that these sites are not used to put our client connections online.
For an employee at a super-large company, I can see how sites like these would be relatively harmless. But when you have a small company, you have to be really, really careful about these sites and what your employees post to them.
Rich Evans
· 1 year ago
Although I understand the point about the losing contacts from employees, I don't think this is as much as a concern as some are making it, The reason is that the street goes both ways. Linkedin allows you to see the contacts of others. This enables an employer to take advantage of a prospects already established contacts to improve their own. So while they risk losing some contacts through Linkedin, they stand to benefit a great more from it if they are able to grasp its full potential.
Bob
· 1 year ago
When I tried linkedIn, I was a little disapointed. It doesn't feel very reliable. I wasn't able to find a colleague of mine unless he sent me the url to his public profile. His invitations never reached me. I still prefer to use xing.com which is quite popular in some European areas.
Justin Whitaker & I are in total agreement; LinkedIn is essentially a big web-enabled address book and nothing like a social network.
By far the most useful tool LinkedIn in offers is the Q&A section, which is a great place to get some excellent, near-instant feedback.
Sadly, the crippled basic email service and the 4 different subscriptions are totally off-putting for me and just about everyone I've recommended LinkedIn to.
I suppose it's all about the individual, but LinkedIn certainly doesn't offer anything like value for money. So the free version is all I'm ever going to use...
Wayne Smallman
· 1 year ago
"Have you checked out LinkedIn since they added the ability to add applications?"
I haven't, no. But time will tell whether this is the right move by LinkedIn, since it's such a total change of direction, and a big step away from their core competencies.
Again, it's a personal thing; I'm on there, but that's it. The Q&A is good, but not enough of a draw for me to keep going back.
Like I said in my last comment, of the people I've introduced to LinkedIn, they just don't get it, or see a reason to be on there. And then there's the subscription costs.
I think LinkedIn has its heart in recruitment (head-hunting) and being a web-enabled address book for people who're on the career ladder, which I'm not...
Arnie | Link Builder
· 1 year ago
I have been on LinkedIn for a long time and only recently have I really learned how to take full advantage of it. I have generated leads for our business, found old friends, reignited past business relationships and contributed to the community. It is the one social media I site I actively participate in.
Jenni H
· 1 year ago
Great article. I have been using LinkedIn for years to build my network. I discovered groups and Q&A this past year and it has been extremely beneficial. I have been contacted for job opportunities, alumni networking and even found a long lost junior high school friend. It is important to keep building your network - especially in a down economy. It's all about connections and building your personal brand.
thoughts are that blogs that ask "what are your thoughts?" at the end of their posts provide me with the worst case of gas...
Mike
· 1 year ago
Firstly, I've learned a long time ago not to post personal info on the net. Secondly, take a look at the posts above: the fact that so many marketers, PR people and job hunters write strongly in favor of linkedin raises so many alarm flags! I see very little benefit in it and potential drawbacks ranging from minor annoyances to hard bites in the backside. Personally I'll keep networking mainly the old-fashioned way; you guys (the groups above) keep linking among yourselves for all I care...
Rick Hamell
· 1 year ago
Linkedin is just another tool. It has it's down sides, and it's up sides. For the individual user who is looking for a job, or looking to network it is invaluable. But, I would NOT allow people to use this as part of their job. The potential for abuse would be too great in my opinion.
I was glad to see the launch of Applications. This is one more step towards making LinkedIn profiles into the ideal virtual resume, because the Apps open up many possibilities for users to show their successes and expertise directly on their resume/profile.
IMHO LION is the worst way to get the most out of LinkedIn You end up having a sea of useless links to people you know nothing about. The more you know your connections, the higher the value of your network.
Internet Marketing Joy
· 1 year ago
I'm also a member of LinkedIn..it is a nice way to keep in touch with your business contacts..and also a great way when you're looking for work or clients.
Chad Levitt
· 1 year ago
Linkedin is powerful -- I developed a “Linkedin power technique†to bypass the “virtual gatekeeper†of any company. This technique lead to me getting hired by EMC and resulted in my first interview 4 times in a row with 4 different companies.
The other day I put up a post on my blog with screen shots that details the exact steps to follow so others can do the exact same as I did. Follow the link -- http://tinyurl.com/66ydpg
Go connect on Linkedin and get the job you truly want!
Shaka
· 1 year ago
I would like Linkedin supported more languages for example Chinese.
Karrine
· 1 year ago
This is a great post. I was just speaking with someone about how I have not been utilizing Linked in to it's fullest potential. Thanks for the reminder.
Joe Spencer
· 11 months ago
Great article covering the uses of LinkedIn. I find the network useful.
David Hughes
· 10 months ago
Great article and good points about the groups. I have joined many groups and found getting the daily updates by email helps me review all the open topics. I am still in shock over the amount of time you have to devote to all these social networking sites so I have narrowed it down. I use LinkedIn for Business Networking and I use iKarma for my reputation. I also keep a Blog on our Financial Markets.
Facebook User
· 8 months ago
Very good article! I also agree on LinkedIn to tell beginner users more about how to and why to use the tool.
On the whole Linked In is a great networking tool but use it carefully.
Use Linkedin carefully if you are in Sales or account management. You could find that your competitors will ambush your connections list. I have just blogged on an interesting case of this happening:
All Comments
Jason Alba
Author - I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???
You can check out my rant, which is about how B2B is ignored in SO many social media for business discussions here:
http://jennifered.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/soci...
Cheers,
jl
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ajackson
I agree - I've had employers ask to view my LinkedIn profile (and now it is included on my resume) as it allows an individual to list all of their credentials in an organized fashion as well as recommendations from friends/work partners/former employers and a summary of who the person is.
I'm eager to see what LinkedIn has up their sleeve(s) for the future. Partnerships with other job-related websites/applications? Acquisitions?
Brett Petersel
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brettpetersel
- easy access to expert advice
- expanding contacts
- reinforcing business brand (PR visibility)
- conducting marketing research
For those who don't have an account already, here's an article: http://www.avangate.com/articles/using-Linkedin...
@adriana_iordan
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
Initially I agree with you. It would be nice to have the capabilities of better brokering and contact info. The way linkedin has set up the model, though, is to own the communication channel. That is their revenue generation point. If I really need to reach out to someone I generally call their company and ask for them . . . but emails . . . that is another problem. There are limitations in terms of what you can do but still a lot of value to be had in finding the right people. I use LinkedIn all the time for this purpose . . . When you need names and emails . . . Jigsaw comes through . . . but all in all both have their limitations. I think if one solution offered both capabilities it would be met with a lot of market resistance. Many users would be hesitant to include themselves and update their profiles if they knew that their info would be available for every cold caller on the planet to spam and dial them. Then their is the whole question of revenue streams . . . what I do see here is a space in between for a third player but that is a conversation for another platform and another time.
Rob Heitzler
I like your comments and had a heated debate with my colleague Karen Mattonen over who owns your Linkedin contacts. If you are on Linkedin and the company you are working for pays for the account upgrade, who do all of those contacts belong to? This was the subject of a podcast tomorrow on my site. Karen thought that the company owns them since they paid for the upgrade, whereas I was fervently against the very notion of that.
Check out my site after 12pm EST to listen in.
-Jim Stroud
The Recruiters Lounge
www.therecruiterslounge.com
Who (really) owns your Linkedin contacts?
http://budurl.com/39yl
Here is a tease about what's discussed in the podcast:
If you are a Linkedin Power User and (when it comes to recruiting/sourcing) swear by Linkedin, you DEFINITELY want to listen in to this. WARNING: Do not let your employer hear it however! Jim and Karen debate and get into hissy fits (Jim this time) over who owns your Linkedin contacts. If an employer pays for an account upgrade, does that account still belong to you after you leave the company? Do you think you know the answer?
Big mistake.
Without my knowledge or consent, he walked around our office encouraging our production staff (non management, non-sales) to create profiles on LinkedIn for some intangible “seo benefit†or “web 2.0 marketing benefitâ€. He unwittingly created a real problem for me, as now more than half of my staff has basically put their personal resumes online in the form of LinkedIn profiles. I see this as very dangerous for my company, as these employees are not answering questions in the answers area of LinkedIn. My next step is to update my policy manual to make sure that these sites are not used to put our client connections online.
For an employee at a super-large company, I can see how sites like these would be relatively harmless. But when you have a small company, you have to be really, really careful about these sites and what your employees post to them.
LinkedIn Tactics for Lifelong Learning - Jeff
By far the most useful tool LinkedIn in offers is the Q&A section, which is a great place to get some excellent, near-instant feedback.
Sadly, the crippled basic email service and the 4 different subscriptions are totally off-putting for me and just about everyone I've recommended LinkedIn to.
I suppose it's all about the individual, but LinkedIn certainly doesn't offer anything like value for money. So the free version is all I'm ever going to use...
I haven't, no. But time will tell whether this is the right move by LinkedIn, since it's such a total change of direction, and a big step away from their core competencies.
Again, it's a personal thing; I'm on there, but that's it. The Q&A is good, but not enough of a draw for me to keep going back.
Like I said in my last comment, of the people I've introduced to LinkedIn, they just don't get it, or see a reason to be on there. And then there's the subscription costs.
I think LinkedIn has its heart in recruitment (head-hunting) and being a web-enabled address book for people who're on the career ladder, which I'm not...
My LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/marketingmanager
Secondly, take a look at the posts above: the fact that so many marketers, PR people and job hunters write strongly in favor of linkedin raises so many alarm flags!
I see very little benefit in it and potential drawbacks ranging from minor annoyances to hard bites in the backside. Personally I'll keep networking mainly the old-fashioned way; you guys (the groups above) keep linking among yourselves for all I care...
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickhamell
I wrote a first review at launch time:
First Review: Using LinkedIn Applications to Show Professional Job Success -
http://jobmob.co.il/blog/using-linkedin-applica...
The other day I put up a post on my blog with screen shots that details the exact steps to follow so others can do the exact same as I did. Follow the link -- http://tinyurl.com/66ydpg
Go connect on Linkedin and get the job you truly want!
I use LinkedIn for Business Networking and I use iKarma for my reputation. I also keep a Blog on our Financial Markets.
Thanks,
Jeff
Use Linkedin carefully if you are in Sales or account management. You could find that your competitors will ambush your connections list. I have just blogged on an interesting case of this happening:
http://www.themanwhosoldtheworld.co.uk/the-man-...