WEEK 1: Introduction to LinkedIn

[Michele Martin]

LinkedIn is primarily a professional network, designed to facilitate linkages between people who are wanting to connect for work-related purposes. It is more “buttoned-down” than Facebook with a more formal culture of relationships and connections. It is also the network of choice for most professionals.

Because LinkedIn is designed for professional networking, there’s a greater emphasis on building a reputation and connecting to employment and business opportunities. LinkedIn Questions and Answers is a way for people to ask questions and receive expert advice. Answers can be rated and people who do this well can improve their LinkedIn reputation. There are also employment listings and an ability to receive recommendations from your connections that then become part of your profile. You can also create and join groups.

To learn more about how LinkedIn works and how you can create a LinkedIn profile and start networking, check out the posts in this HowStuffWorks series on LinkedIn. Also see what other learning professionals are saying about LinkedIn. And consider these tips on using LinkedIn from Ray Sims and 10 Ways to Use LinkedIn from Guy Kawasaki. Also check out "I'm on LinkedIn, Now What?"

Also check out the LinkedIn Tips and Tricks Forum--We were losing some great ideas in this Introductory forum, so I'm moving those tips over to this forum where they're easier to find.

Tips on Writing Your LinkedIn Profile from Chris Brogan
**Make Your LinkedIn Profile Work for You
**Write Your LinkedIn Profile for Your Future

Tony Karrer has also created a quick screencast on how to use LinkedIn to find an expert. You can read another post on Searching for expertise (with another screencast) here.

ACTIVITIES

Spectator--Read the resources on LinkedIn posted here and any comments people make on this Forum thread.

Joiner/Collector--Read the resources and Forum comments. If you haven't done so already, join LinkedIn and start connecting. Invite people to join your network. Flesh out your profile by asking for recommendations or write a recommendation for someone in your network. (Be sure to check out Lodi's ideas on developing your profile). Join the LinkedIn Group we've started for this course, as well as the eLearning Guild's LinkedIn group. You may also want to comment or ask questions in this Forum. Or add your favorite LinkedIn Tips and Tricks to this forum.

You can also add your LinkedIn badge to this forum and/or to your Ning profile page by going to your profile page on LinkedIn and looking for the "Promote my Profile" link. Click on it and it will take you to a page where you can find the code to copy and paste. You can also add your badge to your blog, as Paul did. (For more detailed instructions on how to find/add your badge, check out Kate's post).

Creator-If you have any resources on LinkedIn or want to go looking for some to share, add them to this Forum. Go on LinkedIn and ask a question or try to find an expert, then share your experiences in a blog post or in the forum. Find a LinkedIn group to join and then participate in the conversation. Answer some questions that others have asked and see if you can get someone to rate your answer the best one (this will improve your reputation within the network). Consider creating a screencast or other job aide showing people how they can use LinkedIn.

PREVIOUS TOPIC--Introduction to Social Networking

NEXT TOPIC--Introduction to Facebook

[Michele Martin]

Hi Collin--two great ideas. I've created a LinkedIn group for the course here. I've also suggested that people add to their recommendations list as one of their activities.

Collin Kromke said:

I've been "playing" with LinkedIn for a while now. I actually wrote my first recommendation a few weeks ago for a co-worker.

After going through a recent re-org in my company, I'm thinking there could be some value in asking for recommendations when people both within and outside the company are happy with something I've done for them. These days, employers are searching sites like LinkedIn more and more, and this seems like a good way to collect some references - just in case.



What do people think of creating a group on LinkedIn for the participants in this course? Would it be too redundant considering we already have a community here on ning?

[Heather Bailie]

I haven't managed to find anyone I know on Linked in yet and I feel kind of funny asking people who aren't already on Linked In to join so we can network. Most of my colleagues would wonder why I didn't just speak to them face to face; others who I don't see regularly might feel put upon if I ask them to join...I'm struggling with how to get started and make this useful to me.
I've just read Michele's comment immediately before mine - Just what I need to get more involved...I'm off to join the group now!

[Lodi]

Linkedin is a social network I use for over a year now. From another point of view I would like to add somehting that might scares or appreciates you. I think, as a recruiter, that Linkedin is a recruiter tool "pur sang" as the recruiter can find potential candidates for the jobrole the recruiter has simply by doing a search on skills or whatever the recruiter looks on.

I think a lot of people add or update their profile on Linked in to be headhunted or seen. Due to the American bank crisis there has been an increase of 17% of new Linkedin users. (from a Dutch newspaper article) This only shows that Linkedin is used as THE new-job-find-solutions network instead of traditional websites as Monster.com (or any extenstion from a particular country)

A tip from me as a recruiter; if you want to be find on Linked write down as much specialities, skills, etc as you can, as this ensure you overall search appearences. For example if you are working in the IT sector mention something like: HTML, .NET, VB6, knowledge. As everytime a recruiter looks for someone with .NET experience he will typ that word in to define his search and candidates who pop up.

If you have any questions or if anything isn't clear, please do not hesitate to ask and I will drop down an answer as soon as possible.

[Duncan Greenhill]

Hi,
Brand new to linkedin - here's my badge:

[Dave Ferguson]

I've mainly used LinkedIn to reconnect with people. More recently, though, I searched for people who lived in a geographic area and belonged to ISPI, because I wanted to make some new contacts in that area, and have gotten a lot of value from ISPI over the years.

Although I'm not always comfortable approaching strangers, I find it helps to put focus on, like a prayer shawl. In other words, being clear myself about why I'm approaching them, and giving thought to how they might react to a stranger. I aim for polite, reasonably good humored, and avoid asking questions like "have you thought about life insurance?"

[Michele Martin]

Hi Heather--I've found that sending invites for people to join LinkedIn usually works. Most of the people in my personal network were NOT on LinkedIn when I joined so I sent out invitations and most of them connected with me there. It's a great place to give and get recommendations, find expertise, and connect to people who share your professional interests. Another way to build your network is to check out all of the people here who are joining--they, too, will be looking for connections, so they're some additional people you might want to consider adding.

Heather Bailie said:

I haven't managed to find anyone I know on Linked in yet and I feel kind of funny asking people who aren't already on Linked In to join so we can network. Most of my colleagues would wonder why I didn't just speak to them face to face; others who I don't see regularly might feel put upon if I ask them to join...I'm struggling with how to get started and make this useful to me.
I've just read Michele's comment immediately before mine - Just what I need to get more involved...I'm off to join the group now!

[Bert]

Here is my profile. Very useful information on how to search for interesting people. A very useful screencast.
I use Linkedin for more then two years now, I believe. It is very useful, but as a lot of friends start to discover facebook, they get to linkedin as well. How can I tell them in a polite why that I only want business related people in this network. I don't think the goal of linkedin is the same as the goal of facebook.

I don't know how to put in such a nice banner for my linkedin profile. So here is my direct link. http://www.linkedin.com/in/bertcoolen

[Tony Karrer]

Heather - great questions. What were you searching for when you looked for someone on LinkedIn? The purpose for me is to find expertise that my colleagues don't have (or I don't know if they have).

Can you figure out a recent knowledge work task where talking with someone might have helped?

Heather Bailie said:

I haven't managed to find anyone I know on Linked in yet and I feel kind of funny asking people who aren't already on Linked In to join so we can network. Most of my colleagues would wonder why I didn't just speak to them face to face; others who I don't see regularly might feel put upon if I ask them to join...I'm struggling with how to get started and make this useful to me.
I've just read Michele's comment immediately before mine - Just what I need to get more involved...I'm off to join the group now!

[Tony Karrer]

Michele - I personally do not invite people to join LinkedIn. I only connect with people who are already on the network. Generally this is enough for me.

I should show a search with groups in a screen cast, because that can be a great way to quickly expand your network.

Michele Martin said:

Hi Heather--I've found that sending invites for people to join LinkedIn usually works. Most of the people in my personal network were NOT on LinkedIn when I joined so I sent out invitations and most of them connected with me there. It's a great place to give and get recommendations, find expertise, and connect to people who share your professional interests. Another way to build your network is to check out all of the people here who are joining--they, too, will be looking for connections, so they're some additional people you might want to consider adding.

Heather Bailie said:

I haven't managed to find anyone I know on Linked in yet and I feel kind of funny asking people who aren't already on Linked In to join so we can network. Most of my colleagues would wonder why I didn't just speak to them face to face; others who I don't see regularly might feel put upon if I ask them to join...I'm struggling with how to get started and make this useful to me.
I've just read Michele's comment immediately before mine - Just what I need to get more involved...I'm off to join the group now!

[Michele Martin]

Tony, I think it would be great if you did a screencast on searching groups--very helpful!

My personal thinking on inviting people to LinkedIn is that I'm also trying to make people aware of the service. Most of the people I've invited hadn't heard of it and were happy to learn that they could connect in this way. I tend to be working with some people who may not be as tech savvy, though, which might be part of the issue. If they aren't on LinkedIn, it's not because they aren't interested, but because they don't know about it.

[Vineetha]

Hi, here's my badge. I didn't know we could do this. Thanks!

I've been on LinkedIn for over a year now, but never really used it too much. I started joining groups and writing recommendations last week and now, I do feel there's quite a bit you can do here (apart from advertising your profile).
I've started paying attention to discussion forums and Q&As only today after reading these posts. It is such an easy and effective way to get answers from experts in the field. I just realized how it can also help me locate SMEs for some the high-tech projects we do.
I'm off to adding the badge to my blog and joining the group you've created. Thanks Michele.

[Andy Robinson]

I've just visited linkedin for the first time - I guess it's going to take me some time to fully get my head round it's uses/benefits - But I guess for SMEs, something like this could prove to be extremely valuable, when looking outside the business for expertise/advice etc.

I wonder what the take up of it has been in the UK (although I guess today, who cares if it's UK - Maybe I should be thinking global?!)