Ok, maybe I’m LinkedIn a little bit
Having just touted the merits of not being LinkedIn, and having received no feedback on my plaintive cry for help, I’ve decided to go ahead and work with LinkedIn for a while and see what happens. So last night, in front of the TV, I moused and buttoned my way across the LinkedIn universe and asked for some LinkedIn love - surprisingly enough, this morning I got it, in the form of a number of accepted invitations to be connections.
Now, I can’t help thinking this is kind of a Facebook for adults, but I have to say that, at first blush, there are some things I like about it. For one, on more than one occasion I was excited to find the name of an old work colleague or friend (or both), and to send them a quick e-mail. Now I owe them a real e-mail as a followup up but then again, LinkedIn is there to remind me (and them) of that on a more regular basis than might otherwise be the case.
The other advantage is the usual advantage of the Internet - sheer breadth of geographical coverage. Since my business deals a lot with Germany, it’s nice to have a single tool (other than e-mail) which allows me to put myself out there in Germany, Detroit, the UK, or wherever else I know people. There’s a feeling of overexposure which comes with that, but hopefully it’s outweighed by the personal contacts regained and the additional business from those few people who saw my profile and said “hey, this might be the guy.”
Should you care to look, my profile is here. Be forewarned, though, I’m still unlikely to add 3000 complete strangers to my list of contacts. My skepticism remains alive, if tempered.
As before, I’d love to hear about other’s successes and failures with LinkedIn as a tool for international business.
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5 opinions for Ok, maybe I’m LinkedIn a little bit
Simone Brunozzi
Jan 9, 2008 at 3:30 am
I regularly use Linkedin, and found it very useful: two of my recent job offers came from it :-)
Mary Emma Allen
Jan 13, 2008 at 9:11 am
Thanks for sharing this information about your experience with LinkedIn, Chris. I’ve joined but haven’t done much with it, due to time constraints and simply not knowing much about the process. Your info has helped. Also the international scope of LinkedIn sounds interesting.
Chris
Jan 13, 2008 at 9:13 am
Thanks for the comments. Thus far I’ve had one person contact me to discuss his latest work, which involves some new German clients, and another former contact suggest that we talk about some of his legal need. That’s a pretty good result, to say nothing of the fact that I’m looking forward to talking with some of these former friends and contacts.
Phil Gerbyshak
Jan 13, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I’ve found LinkedIn to be a way I can share my contacts with others, and have their contacts shared with me, without giving them access to all their e-mail addresses. This is mutually helpful, as sometimes I need to know someone inside a company, so I’ll do a quick LinkedIn search, find one of my friends who knows someone in that company, and ask them for an introduction. Simple really.
My favorite part though is the LinkedIn answers feature. You may want to ask your question in the post as a LinkedIn answers request. You’d be very surprised at what you get for answers, from complete strangers.
One great resource: Jason Alba’s book “I’m on LinkedIn: Now What?” You can check Jason out at http://jibberjobber.com/blog
Darlene
Jan 13, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Hi Chris, first let me formally introduce myself. I am a fellow blogger here in the Business Channel. I am visiting your blog and checking it out for the first time. This post pulled me in because I was there, as far as understanding the value of Linkedin. I didn’t get it and I wasn’t interested.
As a result of reading I’m on Linkedin, Now What??, http://www.interviewchatter.com/im-on-linkedin-now-what/, I came to understand that investing time in connecting with friends, previous employers, and meeting and making new friends would benefit me and them. As a result of reading Jason’s book, I wrote a series of post. Here is a link to them: http://www.interviewchatter.com/category/linkedin/.
I hope they will help you. They are not very long, but they will help a newbie to Linkedin, as I am still. They have added value to others. Please let me know if they help. I am happy to help in anyway I can. Good Luck!!
I will be back to visit!
Darlene
Interview Guru
http://www.interviewchatter.com/
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