Why I Love LinkedIn

It's amazing how many "social networking" sites have come up over the years. How do you choose? Years ago, the folks at classmates.com started gaining traction in the whole "class reunion" business. (You know what... I don't have that much in common with my HS graduating class, much less college.) Facebook and MySpace link friends together, but I think many of us in our "post-20's" don't have a lot of friends using those services.

LinkedIn.com asks you for a bit of information about yourself (name, e-mail, where you worked/dates, education/dates) and then cross-references your info against other LinkedIn users who were at those places at the same time. If you know them, you can add them to your network that allows you to look at each others info and other contacts. (Remember the old commercial... they tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and they tell two friends...)

In a second phase, you can upload your address book and it will compare e-mail addresses from your address book with any potential LinkedIn users. Again, making the connections is all voluntary, so you don't have to connect with the geeky Bruce that used to work in accounting.

What's really impressed me is the level of trust and control you have... they don't spam your e-mail, they don't spam your friends, they let you choose how much or how little to show.

And why would you use it?

1. In the field of IT, folks move around quite a bit, so it can be a challenge to keep up with. As people move around (and hopefully keep their LinkedIn profiles up to date), you can keep track of them
2. You can see who is connected to others, so it maps a network of trust. (Oh, Paul used to work with Jane, so I can ask Paul how she does with...communication or VB scripting or ...)
3. You can recommend (or be recommended) by others as a kind of standing testimonial/endorsement.
4. If you're looking for a job, there's a powerful recruiting arm of the tool (haven't used it, so I can't really comment on it...)
5. If you are part of a professional group (say, WASBO or WAMOA), you can upload a logo that your folks can add to their profile, making it easy to verify who's part of your group, either now or in the past.

There are many contact management tools (for instance, Plaxo comes to mind), but with LinkedIn, it's the power of the network. If you decide to join, look me up and invite me to your network!