Revisiting LinkedIn

In the last couple of weeks I spent more time learning about how new LinkedIn functionality can help me become more attuned to my professional network.

It's important not to lose touch with the people you meet at events, for example, yet the connection tends to become more tenuous as time goes by - unless there is a way to continue staying in touch that does not mean an automatic subscription to a newsletter. Has anyone thought of asking for permission to send the newsletter, by the way?

There are many reasons why LinkedIn can be ideal for maintaining and possibly developing the loose ties or weak links you have in your network:

• The interaction can and does happen online - although the tool generates emails to the members of your network in some instances (profile updates, new questions, etc.), the email comes from LinkedIn, not from someone to you specifically. It seems like a subtle distinction since you gave them permission to keep you up to date with the initial act of linking. Somehow it feels good to be able to delete that email immediately and know that it is still stored in your LinkedIn home page to deal with it later. The tone and layout of these emails is less annoying (as well as less frequent) than the ones I used to get from Facebook. No pokes on the shoulder here, either.

• You can ask and answer questions - I tried it last week when I was doing research for a story and it worked beautifully. In the space of a couple of hours, I had solid business advice from professionals in my network. The beauty is that the content in question and the answers allowed me to meet a couple of new people who would have probably never crossed path with me in the blogosphere. This might be true especially of people in the B2B world. Asking and answering questions also gives you the opportunity to become a thought leader in a subject matter.

• The weakest ties may be the most active in your network - if I have a pretty close business relationship with someone, chances are our day to day communications happen on other platforms. We may meet face to face, on the phone, or correspond by email. LinkedIn is very useful for staying aware of what those others are working on, with whom you would not have a day to day or frequent check in otherwise. On more than one occasion, I have forwarded introductions from people in my network to others. This is much more powerful than just trying to reach someone you don't know directly - it comes with a cover note and the recommendation of a person whose brand you trust.

• You can see who checked your profile - on the right sidebar in your home page, you will see a box titled "who has viewed my profile?" I've had a couple of surprises there, too. Maybe you came up in a keyword search for someone who is looking for talent in a specific area. Or perhaps you know someone that someone else would like to get in touch with. You have probably noticed the "people in your network are hiring" towards the bottom of the page, too. Recruiters have a special way of using LinkedIn. Harry Joiner recently wrote about recruiters and LinkedIn at Marketing Headhunter.

• There's a beta news service tailored to your industry and company - I am liking this a lot. It allows me to see what my colleagues are reading. So far, I have found several articles of interest and the beauty of it is that nobody had to lift a finger. The system put them in rotation whenever I visited. Under the news section, you can now see all the network updates. Most of the time I scan these. LinkedIn also sends an automatic "updates" email periodically, in case I missed something.

There are professional groups and networks on LinkedIn. To date I tried only one, so I do not have a good idea of the amount of communication and activity those generate. All in all, this is my online professional networking tool of choice - it keeps things clean and simple.

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I would be curious to learn how you've used LinkedIn. Do you check to see if someone has a profile there before interviewing them? Have you researched providers in your area? I've seen many recommendations. How are those working out for you?

UPDATE: LinkedIn has a new (beta) home page. Check it out. It seems they did away with the "see who checked out your profile" function.

Comments

[Tejas Patel]

Good summary of what we can do with LinkedIn.

As for how I use LinkedIn, here are few things.

1. Before I go for interviews I check the interviewers profile on LinkedIn. It not only tell me about the person what what projects they have worked on and are working on.

2. It gives me a lot of information about the project that I am interviewing for or am interested in.

3. Recommendations tells me a lot about the other person I am interested in. When writing recommendations for others, it is my way of showing gratitude to the people I have worked for.

[Joe Raasch]

Hi Valeria,

I use

I wouldn't have my current job right now if I hadn't built a useful network on LinkedIn.

I was able to get a thoughtful, in-depth view of the organization I was considering. I have since received feedback from four different people on how thoroughly I had been prepared and 'understood' their culture and organization.

It was my network that introduced me to the people I needed to know.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Tejas -- "Life is all about Sharing," as you say so well. Thank you for joining the conversation and for adding your experience. As you point out, there is business-relevant depth to LinkedIn that I have not found in other networks.

@Joe -- I know of others who have had a similar experience to yours. One of the points I stress when helping people conduct a job opportunity search is that of understanding the company culture. It's key. I am finding great insights about that in 'The Art of the Start' by Guy Kawasaki as well. Can't wait to hear about how things are going next week!

[Tim Brunelle]

Valeria,

I'm digging the new LinkedIn look. And they have retained Profile Views (i.e. "Who's been looking") -- right side, under the 300x250 banner.

I was just thinking about this the other day. Why do I bother with a resume on my portfolio site? I mean, I link to my LI profile anyway. But I'm curious about when we'll stop using static resumes, and just expect an LI or Plaxo link from a candidate. It's so much easier all around--and more informed, given the recommendations.

Now if they could just develop an iPhone optimized version of LI...you know, for events and such. ;)

Tim

[Valeria Maltoni]

I had not seen it. Thank you for pointing it out. You are exactly right. A LinkedIn profile with links to blogs, social media portfolio and projects is much more revealing of the skills of a candidate than a resume.

There's lots of potential for LinkedIn and mobile apps. Good for them, too in showing progress and evolution with the service.