LinkedIn - What's the point?

[200bhp]

Having used Facebook since 2006 for social contact and photo sharing etc. I signed up for Linked in a few months ago.

I've spent that time happily accepting contact requests from people I've worked with, some customers and suppliers etc. However, no one seems to interact, comment on anything, post anything or do anything that makes it worthwhile.

So what's the point of LinkedIn? What can you possibly get out of it?

[davepoth]

If you're looking for a job recruitment agents have to do even less work to find out things about you. Since that means less interaction with recruitment agents, I'm all for it.

[Piersman2]

200bhp said:

Having used Facebook since 2006 for social contact and photo sharing etc. I signed up for Linked in a few months ago.

I've spent that time happily accepting contact requests from people I've worked with, some customers and suppliers etc. However, no one seems to interact, comment on anything, post anything or do anything that makes it worthwhile.

So what's the point of LinkedIn? What can you possibly get out of it?

Echo the comments above.

If you don't know then it's not for you.

More usefully though; linked is not Facebook, I would never dream of having a Facebook account, but I do have a linked in account to keep track of people I've worked with on various projects over the last 10 years.

[200bhp]

swerni said:

If you have to ask, you probably are wasting your time.

You could always try using the search function.

This has been done several times.

Yes. Clearly I'm far to stupid to work it out for myself.

I did try a search but it bought up nothing at all - See what I mean ?? http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/gsearch.asp?q=l...

[Piersman2]

200bhp said:

Yes. Clearly I'm far to stupid to work it out for myself.

I did try a search but it bought up nothing at all - See what I mean ?? http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/gsearch.asp?q=l...

Finding nothing on search is not an excuse, as an experinced PH member like yourself should be well aware the search on PH is like some kind of random results generator, the only logical coding in the randomness is that it is not allowed to return a matching result.

[Doofus]

200bhp said:

Yes. Clearly I'm far to stupid to work it out for myself

You see, you've come up against the 'Wall Of Silence' that is LinkedIn.

Whenever you ask "What's it for?", you will always get the response "If you don't know, it's not for you".

It's The Emperor's New Clothes, as far as I can tell. Many people use it, and appear to glean nothing of benefit from it, but they're not going to tell you that.

I don't want to get personal,but somebody here said "I use it to keep track of people I worked with ten years ago."

Why? It was ten years ago! If i need to keep in touch with people, I do. If I don't, then they can go abourt their business.

I know people on LinkedIn. I even have an account, but my profile is blank and always has been. I get regular invitiations to Link with people I know, but I've never had one from somebody with whom I wasn't actually in real contact with, so I've never understood the point.

Every time I asked somebody how to get the best from it, I got "The Wall", so I've given up.



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[Simpo Two]

That reminds me of years ago when I posted on the Computing forum about how to do web forms. They all said it was very easy and used 'back office functions'. But when I asked 'OK, how do I actually do it?' they all went quiet.

[Alec]

I use it a partial sales tool, for looking up people I would like to do business with and making personal contact with them. This has proved 100% useful to me, making both contacts in my new business and helping me find freelance work. The month I bought a pro account it paid for itself 2000% over.

If you use it as a way to avoid middle men (pa's, receptionists, recruitment agents, etc) then its ace. I suspect I might come across as slightly spammy occasionally (I only send 1-2 contacts a week at most) but if you don't mind a bit of hustle and effort it can be great. Also fill out your profile and get references. Mine is below.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/alecdobbie

[Ken Sington]

Only form of social media, if you can call it that, that I have earned money out of, since I re-established contact with a client I had not heard from for 7 years or so, and he instructed me on some work.

[200bhp]

Thanks for the more constructive replies.

Perhaps it should be viewed more as a sales tool? - And perhaps (as a non-sales person) that is why I find it pretty useless?

[Frimley111R]

Two things:

1 Some potential clients/customers will look up your/your company profile on LI. If the profile looks professional and you look well established/experts that will encourange them to use/contact you.

2 You can join forums of people in similar industries to pick up news and potential leads.

[Doofus]

swerni said:

If you worked in sales / presales / management / recruitment etc you would know about it an use it regularly.

Bit of a broad church. but I work in 'management', in that I do, and have previously, owned several companies. I've never known what LinkedIn is 'for', and I've never used it.

I have also never felt deficient in that. I really don't know what it could add to the way I work. I'm willing to be enlightened, of course. If it's all about finding prospects you can tap up to sell stuff to, then I'd suggest I'm better off out.

[joscal]

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-technol...

I found this rather amusing.

[200bhp]

Swerni - Do you work for a large company? I see you work for a large company.

I work in "management" within a small (£30M turnover) family run business employing 80 people. I'm closely involved with many aspects of the business including commercial, marketing and technical issues.

I wonder if the benefits of linkedin are also dependant on the industry/sector that people are in?

Edited by 200bhp on Wednesday 4th July 12:30

[thegreengoblet]

As a freelancer I find it quite useful. It allows Agents and Companies to find me regarding suitable jobs (and I don't tend to get contacted regarding unsuitable jobs because my profile is sufficiently detailed). And it allows me to keep updated with ex-colleagues i.e. company and role changes, as well as being able to contact them should the need ever arise. For me, in my niche market, it's about who you know as much as what you know to find the right opportunities.

[Podie]

I've found it useful.

I work for a small company, and we wanted a specialist contractor in for some work. No one in the office knew anyone in the field, but one of my contacts did. A couple of calls later and we'd established that this person had the appropriate skills and we were in contact - having had several references.

[AmiableChimp]

I also use it as primarily a sales tool as I went self employed earlier this year in IT Consultancy.

As mentioned previously, it allows recruiters to read my skillset and decide whether I am a match for their requirement.

I also use the groups section quite a bit for raising questions, technical issues as there is a strong community of people who operate in the same "space".

Unfortunately, the benefit of the groups is diluted somewhat by throngs of people from Asia posting entry-level questions that anyone with any training/experience whatsoever would be able to answer.

[Alec]

200bhp said:

I wonder if the benefits of linkedin are also dependant on the industry/sector that people are in?

Partially, I've found my IT freelance business it's a mixed bag however for my product sampling business where I need a cross section of business it's helped me connect to decision makers in global business directly. A little research into job titles has paid off quite well.

[98elise]

You are completely missing the point.

I socialise by actually meeting friends, therefore I don't need a facebook account. I do want to keep contact with various people I've worked with, but I don't want to know what they had for lunch, or what they thought of corrie last night. I therefore have a Linkedin account to keep track of all that.

As a contractor its very useful for letting all my old employers know that I'm available. I've also had some unsolicited contacts about jobs from various people.

[thegreengoblet]

98elise said:

I do want to keep contact with various people I've worked with, but I don't want to know what they had for lunch, or what they thought of corrie last night. I therefore have a Linkedin account to keep track of all that.

Also, people change their email addresses over time. At least you can still contact them through LinkedIn. I recently helped a Contractor - who I used to work with many years ago - into a position using LinkedIn, as his email address I had was no longer used.