Liz Ryan on The Opposite of Networking:
Personal branding, typically of the most overwrought and preening variety, is all the rage. And people bring this self-promotion to networking, online and in person. One woman set up her Outlook account so that the “from” field on messages in your inbox doesn’t say “Jane Addams” but it says “Jane Addams Networking Guru.” That’s just in case you need to be reminded of Jane’s opinion of herself, every time she pings you to say she’s written an article or added 100 new LinkedIn connections.
I agree that many people go too far with this. On the other hand, are we supposed to throw out completely the concept of personal branding? It’s especially important for those of us who are professional speakers/infopreneurs. That said, I don’t use one either. 
Isabel Wang on Who’s Afraid of Bob Parsons:
With each new signup, Linkedin becomes more valuable to each member of its community.
True, true, true! That’s why I believe it’s important to make a review of your new contacts
every month or so and invite any new strong connections (clients, vendors, strategic partners, long-lost friends and relatives, etc.) to join LinkedIn.
Reid Hoffman on When Being a Billionaire Isn’t Enough:
It’s kind of embarrassing…You started a year or two earlier, and they start after you and then this thing zips right past you and gets the golden results.
Reid’s commenting on the Google acquisition of YouTube and the motivational power of envy, even among the highly successful (he was founding board member and later EVP of PayPal).
Joe Procopio on Social Networking: So Wrong It’s Right:
…LinkedIn is the missing link between social networking and commerce…
Joe believes that the big opportunity in social networking really hasn’t happened yet – providing tools to help users easily make attractive, functional, quality content. I agree with him about the need, but I think a) the tools are farther along than he gives them credit, and b) there are many, many other ways to monetize social networking in a big way. Some of them still have yet to be explored.
