Try and contain your excitement

The Professional Social Network

•Founded 2002 by ex-Yahoos. Launched May 2003

•More than 90 Million users worldwide

•One new member every second

•First major Social Network to IPO

Boring by Design

•LinkedIn isn’t fun nor is it meant to be.

•That keeps the userbase low BUT it keeps the userbase trimmed and useful

•If the cocktail party’s on Twitter and the open house is on Facebook, LinkedIn’s the Chamber Business After 5.

What Is LinkedIn?

•Contact list of people they know and trust in business (called "Connections")

•Profiles are more like resumes or CVs.

•No pictures, games or whirligigs.

Strong Connetions

•LinkedIn could even be considered a stronger link between people than Facebook. You almost never add contacts you have not met.

•Connections are made based on a “how do you know them” question. Choose school or business.

Degrees of Separation•1st Degree: Direct connections

•2nd Degree: The people connected to your first degree people

•3rd Degree: The people connected to your 2nd degree people.

Degrees of Separation

“That's when it dawned on me that I was completely missing the boat with LinkedIn. LinkedIn's search feature wasn't about finding contacts I knew, it was about finding contacts I NEEDED to know. The whole "degrees of contact" bubble weren't a fun way to see who knew who, it was invaluable insight into how to make contact with new companies.

http://www.searchengineguide.com/jennifer-laycock/why-linkedin-is-the-one-social-network-i.php

Degrees Control Access

•How much detail you’re permitted to see goes down the further you go:

Leveraging Connections

•When contacting someone of the 2nd degree you can filter the contact through your shared connection:

Leveraging Connections•The invitation filters through Nina

first in this example.

Leveraging Connections

•For 3rd degree connections you have two people to go through...

The Breaks

•LinkedIn doesn’t want users amassing hundreds and hundreds of meaningless contacts.

•You can have 5 invitations out at a time and you can only see limited profile info unless you pay $$$

Why?

•Trust and integrity of the social network (and money)

•You can have 5 invitations out at a time and you can only see limited profile info unless you pay $$$

What Else Can You Do?

•Question & Answer sections

•Professional groups

•Job listings

•Research on business contacts

•Research on companies

Gain Insight from your Connections•LinkedIn gives insight into who

your competitors are connecting with.

•Your shared contacts and degrees of control are available, this can be a competitive advantage to those who leverage the info.

Employers Love LinkedIn

•LinkedIn has given employers supplemental information on job candidates.

•People can be researched and their on-paper references can be backed up.

•It’s hard to lie about your LinkedIn network.

Recruiters Love LinkedIn

•We naturally like to do business with “known quantities”

•LinkedIn has allowed 2nd and 3rd degree connections to seek out professionals who they’re trusted contacts have dealt with.

The Peril of Not Playing

•LinkedIn has become so common among professionals that your lack of a profile may become a disadvantage.

•What do you have to hide?

•How can a future client or employer verify your credibility if you’re not online?

Personal Branding

•Your LinkedIn profile is thus something of a trophy. It sits on the shelf in full display, and while you don’t play with it much, it’s there to show off.

•It helps that Google LOVES public LinkedIn data.

Your Best Face Forward

•We have a fundamental lack of control over what information is available about us online.

•You fight back by creating positive relevant content in places like LinkedIn to push your embarrassing LiveJournal from 1999 further down the search results list.