LinkedIn Connections 5-2-2007

My irregular roundup of LinkedIn-related posts around the blogosphere:

Josef Scarantino describes LinkedIn’s value

If you want to meet other ambitious people in your field of work and you have a desire to really use those connections to get things done in life, I recommend you start by joining LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a social network like MySpace for adults. It’s MySpace all grown up without the ugly profile pages that make you go blind.

That’s one of the best (and funniest) pitches for LinkedIn I’ve seen.

Vincent Wright’s LinkedIn POLICY

Vincent Wright is the COCA – Captain Of Clever Acronyms (I’m obviously not!). In this post, he asks a pointed question:

We know that Linkedin has a policy regarding you and its other 10 Million members.

But, do YOU have a Linkedin POLICY?

Do you have a set of rules guiding you, helping you keep things straight as you network with and among your fellow Linkedin members?

I particularly like Step 3:

Step 3: When on Linkedin, I will remember the importance of remembering I’m on Linkedin’s platform.

Sage advice.

Andrew Kaplan recaps two years on LinkedIn

I have always approached my time on LinkedIn strategically from the start. One of my goals was to build contacts and relationships with senior executives and company founders in silicon valley involved with “eWarrior” products and services such as blogging, social networks, crm, and podcasting. I also wanted to re-establish my contacts in both traditional media at companies such as HBO, MTV and others where I had worked in the past and with new areas of digital media in this case happening in New York City.

LinkedIn is so much more effetive when you have a very deliberate plan as to who you want to meet, rather than just “interesting people”, or worse, everyone you’ve ever exchanged an e-mail with.

Lea Setegn on finding the hidden job market

Recommendations are a big part of what makes LinkedIn work so well, as they give you “known quantity” status when you approach people about open positions in your field.

He’s so right about this. LinkedIn is without a doubt the best place to find recommendations on professionals from people they’ve actually worked with. Of course, the recipient has to approve the recommendation, so you won’t see anything negative, but it’s a great way to find out what other people think that person’s strengths are. For some ideas on making better recommendations, check out Naina Redhu’s LinkedIn recommendation examples.

Ask Liz Ryan community members on LinkedIn

Members of the Ask Liz Ryan Online Community have been sharing their experiences of LinkedIn. There are some success stories, but it’s also a good look at how new LinkedIn users perceive it. This was one of my favorites – an excellent way to use LinkedIn:

I am relatively new to LinkedIn, but can offer one positive aspect ofthe site so far. Working for a relatively large company, it’s hard todefine who enjoys online networking amongst your co-workers. OnLinkedIn it was so easy to find others at my company. This was veryencouraging and gives me a chance to communicate with co-workers Ialready know in a different setting on our own time. It also allows meto get to know other employees I have never actually met. In my jobdescription (Executive Assistant) there is no development plan otherthan what you create for yourself. Therefore networking with otherswithin your company from other departments or who work in verydifferent capacities is a big plus.

CarlenLea’s take on LinkedIn

Linkedin.com is a professional networking site. Think of it as where you go after Facebook. Or if you’ve never heard of Facebook, think of it as an online, ongoing networking event.

I thought she had a couple of really choice insights:

One of the issues with LinkedIn, is that it does require you to understand the basic value of networking.
…
I also find that just seeing how other people choose to present themselves professionally on a site like this is helpful. How do they describe their jobs? What interests, both personal and professional, do they post? Who else do they know? How many contacts do they have? Can they possibly know all of those people or are they just big LinkedIn whores?

Joe Whyte on the future of LinkedIn

I see the future of social networking sites moving towards a blend of mobile search and social job networking. In the future there will be people sending their LinkedIn account profile via their BlackBerry when networking either in person or virtually. Although this may be feasible now, due to our mobile search hurdles we have not yet seen the climb or growth of the mobile side of social job networking mature to its inevitable climax.

Yes, yes, yes! Maybe I’ll finally be able to eliminate business cards entirely.

Andrey Milyan offered some additional insight, echoing much of what I’ve been saying for the past couple of years:

The change is coming and it will have an impact far beyond job search networks. In a few years, the Facebook and MySpace generation will enter the workforce. This generation is not afraid to click on links, knows how to get the most out of websites in general, and social media features specifically. They will look for jobs, buy cars, book vacations and take out mortgages for real estate purchases. They will want to do it faster, on the go and from any device, including cell phones. And when that happens, the good old website layouts and features will no longer cut it.