LinkedIn Archive

With all of the platforms launching these days (even our own), LinkedIn is taking the smart road and opening up their system to applications that expand their mission. LinkedIn is a business networking tool, period. And it should stay that way. While the Scobles of the world have left LinkedIn for Facebook, when I talk to business execs not in tech, LinkedIn is still their tool of choice.

Saul over at the NYT has an interview with LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye. In it Dan discusses how they will open the system, why they won’t allow "hamburgers to be slung" and thier plans for an IPO.

Some notes:

“We have no interest in doing it like Facebook with an open A.P.I. letting people do whatever they want,” Mr. Nye said. “We’re not going to have people sending electronic hamburgers to each other.”

“On many other Web sites, there is a lot of noise and a lot of interference,” he said. “When you go to LinkedIn, we want you to be confident you can accomplish your goals, be productive and move on with your day. We are not trying to get you to come back multiple times throughout the day.”

I am not sure I agree with Dan’s last comment. LinkedIn should become the business water cooler (not gossip) and to do that, you need return visitors daily. Maybe not 20x a day, but more than once.  Top of mind fellas, top of mind.

LinkedIn has lost some of the popularity they had as many of the bloggers have moved their attention to Facebook and the upcoming platforms from other social networking tools. LinkedIn needs to get that blogger buzz back as it works on opening up. I would like to see a smarter LinkedIn as well.

So the big excitement online yesterday was that LinkedIn has added the ability for users to add photos to their profiles. Caroline has a good overview of the new option and Donna discusses the "right" headshot for your profile.

We know that LinkedIn is used for hiring these days, so I wonder, will it now become more of a Match.com scenario? Some things to consider:

• Will employers be looking for the hottest cutie?
• Will a fat man be passed over just because he is fat?
• Will a woman who looks "old" be passed over?
• What about race issues?

While I know that bloggers in general love to show themselves off, I am not excited for photos to be added to this employment tool. Without the photos, everyone is judged based on their skills in a semi-anonymous way at least on getting in the door. I have always thought the Internet put us all on the same playing field but photos certainly changes that.

Late last week I was meeting with a new client and discussing how to promote her web site. She said one of her clients asked her about LinkedIn and so she asked for my thoughts on it. We wound up discussing the site for about 10 minutes and when I left the office, walking to my car, I started to wonder if this site actually produces results for the users of it.

In my opinion, people use LinkedIn for two basic things. First is to find a job, whether it be full-time or consulting. Second is to network with people they know currently or reconnect with people from their past experiences.

Let's discuss the second first. Because LinkedIn has experienced huge growth, it is an excellent way to find former associates, friends, students, etc. I have found a bunch of people from my past lives to connect with.

Now the reason I believe that LinkedIn exists. To help people find work. And this is the reason I wonder if the site actually works. Guy Kawasaki posted a month ago about a LinkedIn makeover he went through with the staff at LinkedIn. It would be great to have him do a follow-up post about what the results have been with his newly updated robust profile. There is no doubt that he put a lot of time into creating his profile. The comments on his post are mixed with some showing success and many showing it being a worthless service. 

Does the amount of time you put into creating your profile = a better return? I assume more content will equal better results in terms of searches, but does it actually mean a better return in dollar, euro, peso, pound or any other currency. I haven't seen it yet.

In January, LinkedIn posted a release with some quotes about the job situation on LinkedIn. Here are a couple snippets:

John Zwieg, Senior Staffing Manager at Logitech said, "I started a pilot program with LinkedIn last year and in the first three months we were able to successfully fill 22 positions. We’ve now deployed LinkedIn Corporate Solutions across our entire North American staffing team."

Lori Rogers, Recruitment Services Manager with UnitedHealth Group, "LinkedIn has been a huge success and win for our recruiters. We’ve had numerous hires since we upgraded our users to LinkedIn Corporate Solutions. It’s a great source for our recruiters to search for business professionals and network with others in the industry."

I am considering doing a "Kawasaki-style makeover" to my profile and I am curious as to whether you believe it will actually make a difference in terms of gaining possible job inquiries. If so, what are the areas that work for you? Is it good job descriptions? Is it recomendations? Is it linking to as many people I can as possible? What's the best recipe for LinkedIn success?

So what I am looking for is feedback about how you use LinkedIn. Do you use it in one of the two ways I discussed above, or a completely different way? Have you received job offers from using the tool? If so, how much did you have to "work it" to get the offers? Do you believe it is a beneficial tool for employment?

Also, for the corporate LinkedIn partners, what are your results? Are you finding the talent you are looking for?