Are You Linked In? If Not, You Should Be

We’ve been busy building a network of professional communication and content management contacts with the help of a great social networking tool called Linked In. For the uninitiated, Linked In is an online network of more than 11 million professionals that provides services designed to help you:

Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended by others
Be found for business opportunities
Search for great jobs
Post and distribute job listings
Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals
Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know

We are using the free version of Linked In (which has numerous useful features), but we will soon be graduating to a premium version of the product in order to take full advantage of the additional features available.

The center of the Linked In universe is the profile. When you join Linked In, you will be prompted to create an online profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments (work, awards, projects, and more). Your profile data helps you be found by former colleagues, potential new clients or business partners, etc.—folks looking for something you may have to offer (skill set, experience, knowledge, services). Once your profile has been constructed, you’ll be promoted to invite friends and business contacts to join your Linked In network. The network is your semi-private group of contacts. Any member of your Linked In network can find your listing and contact you directly, but those that aren’t part of your network, have to ask to be introduced to you by a member of your network. This approach keeps the system virtually SPAM-free and allows you to build a trusted network of contacts by extending your reach across the networks of others. Think: Six Degrees of Separation.

We use Linked In to: