One of my friends sent me an invitation to join, and lo and behold! All of our other friends and business associates were already there. I used to work in the anti-spam space, and everyone I had worked with (or wanted to) was already LinkedIn. Seems to have an impressive community of SEO folk as well.

I was really surprised, because as an anti-social person :) I could not see or understand the benefit of social networking sites until I tried it for myself.

Does anyone have a similar experience? Where's your LinkedIn profile?

I don't "use" is per se. I have an account and occassionally get invites, but that's about it.

Any particular reason you don't use it? Does it seem not useful, or are you too low on bandwidth as it is? :)

I also have a LinkedIn account (my profile is listed along with my bio on the "about us" page on my website). I don't visit LinkedIn as much as, say, Facebook or MySpace, though.

To me, LinkedIn comes across as very work-oriented. It's all about resumes and hard-core business networking and getting jobs. MySpace and Facebook are, for me at least, more "social."

For me, MySpace is where my artistic and musical friends hang out, so I "feed" that side of my personality when I interact with people there. There's not one single business-associate-type person in my MySpace friend group, and I like it that way. Many of the people I've connected with on MySpace are folks I've known for years online (some of them I've even met in person!) through shared interest in The Monkees, for instance; others are local musicians and the owners of local music venues. :)

On the other hand, I've hooked up with a number of business/SEO types at FaceBook. Sending each other drinks, leaving posts on folks' walls, poking each other (so pointless! so fun!), checking out our movie compatibility ratings... yeah, there's an aspect of business networking to FaceBook, but it's not so relentlessly businesslike as what I perceive LinkedIn to be.

At LinkedIn I feel as though I'm at a networking meeting, working the room (which is something Shy Persons such as myself find tremendously uncomfortable).

At FaceBook, I'm in the hotel bar after an SES session, shooting the breeze with my colleagues. It's still a bit nerve-wracking for a Shy Person to just jump in, but once I get going it's fun and sometimes a little silly.

Does that make any sense?

--Torka

Yes, that makes sense to me -very different types of sites when it comes down to the amount and type of interaction.

For another thread also on LinkedIn and other's experiences see this thread also

http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9982

Thanks for the link to that thread, Logan! I had forgotten about that one.

You offered some excellent LinkedIn tips in the first post in that thread!

--Torka

The real snafou I have is all of the personal imformation you have to divulge.

I'm not saying that you have to divulge ALL of youir information, it's just that I feel like it's too much.

Identity theft.......


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Any particular reason you don't use it?

I just don't social network. I don't have a facebook or myspace account, I don't use digg, reddit, or stumbleupon except on very rare occasions. Too many other things on my plate.

I just don't social network. I don't have a facebook or myspace account, I don't use digg, reddit, or stumbleupon except on very rare occasions. Too many other things on my plate.


I hear that!

Really makes me think if we are just too consumed because of the newness of things. We do like NEW and we do like to be FIRST.

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I think that is very true for many/most. At the same time LinkedIn isn't necessarily a time monster like facebook.

An article today about LinkedIn has this quote from one of the LinkedIn founders ...

We don't give people a way to spend their entertainment or idle time.

That's a pretty strong statement that sheds the light on what is different between LinkedIn and others such as Facebook.

Is Facebook nipping at the heels of LinkedIn -

In recent months, technology blogs have been abuzz with speculation that large numbers of business people are tiring of LinkedIn and migrating to Facebook — the online networking home popular among students and twentysomethings — for their professional networking.

The full article is here ... http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2007-09-04-linked-in_N.htm

On a lighter note, I have to say you guys saying this sounded a bit ironic -

I just don't social network. I don't have a facebook or myspace account, I don't use digg, reddit, or stumbleupon except on very rare occasions. Too many other things on my plate.

.....

I hear that!

Hmmm, both of you guys seem to do just fine here with your social networking. I realize the forums are different, but it is a type of social site that you both do have time for ;)

I realize the forums are different, but it is a type of social site that you both do have time for

Good point logan. But forums were popular before the whole social networking buzzword became popular, but yeah, this is one of the original forms. But I don't spend a lot of time building up my SEG "Profile" page either. ;)

I am signed up but not really using it

I'm a member of LinkedIn, but i dont care much for it. Charles

I am a member as well. I don't use it. Too much sites, too little time ;-)

There is a saying, typically people usually visit 6 or 7 sites regularly. These days, there seem to be too many these kind of social networking sites. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster... You name it. I guess there will be a time that comes soon that some of the sites go under water, other sites merged into one...

I've been using LinkedIn for a few months now. I think it's like anything else - if you devote some time to it, it will pay off. I've been working on building up my network, and I just spend a few minutes, a few times a week on it. I can definitely see it being a tool to get business - if done properly.

I think the whole idea is, not so much that you will solicit people in your firends' networks, but that the more people you have in your network, the more you will show up and be seen by everyone in their network. It's a slower, more seed-sowing type of thing.

Plus, linkedin has some other nice tools like asking and answering questions, which can also get your profile seen. In my name field, I don't just have my name showing, but also what i do - I think that can help as well.

just my $.02 :)

I'm on it. Don't see the benefit. Pretty two-dimensional. I'll stay on it but hope it adds more functionality. Right now it's just a link farm. :thud1:

Im a member of LinkedIn as well..I have found a lot of acquaintances on that site but I have found that zananetwork.com works better for finding business partners. Thats just my opinion though

I'm a member of linkedin and for me it's like I'm waiting for it to become something. I don't think there is enough going on with the site right now, but I kind of like the fact that you don't need to devote much attention to it.

I think they really need to make it more of a tenders and proposals type database. That way there is more of a 'point'.

I'm hoping it will grow into something good for business.

I've got it, but like a few other people, I'm only there just to be there in case it starts to bloom. So far I haven't found much use for it.

I have been using LinkedIn since it was a beta site about 6 years. Great networking site for individuals. However, I just was sent a new site a few weeks ago from one of my girlfriends as a competitor to LinkedIn. I can't remember the name as I looked it, I deleted. Any other helpful competitive sites that people know of?

I have been using facebook and linkedin for some time now. I agree that they build a network to get you seen, rather than you going out and soliciting work from people that are in both your and others networks. The question and answer features of LinkedIn provide a great forum like experieince to get advice from experts. These sites are worth a few minutes of your time during the week.

I avoided all the networking-focused sites for a long time because I already spend so much time on forums, and it just didn't seem practical to add another membership/commitment/thing to worry about every week. But then all at once I got LinkedIn invitations from three or four people I know and respect, and suddenly it seemed like a good thing to do.

It does take some time to set up your profile. And like Scott said, some of what's requested seems a little too specific to share online. For example, I wasn't too sure my former employers would be thrilled about my defining their organizations in detail. Instead I summarized them at the end of my own company profile with a note something to the effect of "full work history details on request." ;)

I'm with Amir on this one: the Answers feature is great! Just like in a forum, if you want to learn, simply read. No other participation is required. But if you want to reach out and help someone out by sharing knowledge, the opportunity's there. That's really all the "social" I need. And sometimes there's a bonus to answering, too. People regularly use Answers to collect opinions and experiences that they later turn into blog or article material. They almost always give full-name credit and a link to anyone they quote. I have gotten some nice unexpected inbound links from just answering a question.

Once that initial profile set-up is finished, LinkedIn's not a tremendous time-sucker. I just scan through the recent questions, and if nothing piques my interest, I move on to the next task.

From what I understand, LinkedIn's Groups feature is where a person can end up spending eternity online. For that reason, I haven't gotten involved. But again, it's there if you want it.