Linked in is not really targeted at developers… It’s targeted at marketing, sales and Entrepreneurs. The value comes from having a network of people that you know that know someone that you dont…and that you would LIKE to know. Example: I recently had some bad experiences with a startup VOIP service. I wanted to complain to someone in upper management because the support people in India dont know or care about the real issue I was having. SO I pulled up my linked in network and searched for the level of management at that company that I wanted to complain to… And I was 2 links away from that person… So I asked my friend who inturn asked their friend and I had a phone conversation with someone that I would never have even had the opportunity of speaking with in a pre-linked in environment…
I wouldnt have known that I was only 2 “friends” away from this person…
Thats the value that Linked in provides to me and to the people that need the social networking.
Developers and a social network? No wonder linked in dosent make sense to you…
Well I had no benefits until last April when I got an email from a recruiter that turned into a real job offer with a 40% pay increase.
So I can say it’s definitely been useful.
I’m keeping my Linked-In account. For me, the benefit is catching up with colleagues I worked with decades ago (before any of us had an e-mail address) and are now spread around the planet.
I don’t get spam job offers from headhunters because I’ve turned off the “open to job offers” option. (OK, well maybe I’m unattractive too. :))
I’ve had mostly good experiences with LinkedIn over the years. I also like Plaxo when it’s not bugging meto spam my friends
But neither service on their own offer me much value.
If LinkedIn could combine with Plaxo to give me decent, unobtrusive address book management then I’d be more likely to use it to keep in touch with a distributed contact network…but right now there’s very little reason to add to many friends/collegues to either service…
First of all, I’ll confess to being a LinkedIn evangelist, but not a fanatic. I don’t advocate the “link collecting” approach and, as evidenced by many of the reactions here, contend that it harms far more than just the people sending and receiving thos spammy invitations.
Now I could sit here and say, “Oh but you can do this and that with LinkedIn,” or, “I had this great success with LinkedIn,” etc.
But I have a better idea…
###Use Cases
Let’s have a debate. Jeff, Robert, anyone else who wants to take me on. I’ll post a series of LinkedIn use cases in my blog – OK, not formal use cases with diagrams, but rather, user stories. You, or anyone else who wants to, tell me how you’d accomplish it without LinkedIn, then people can decide for themselves based on some real information.
And maybe I learn some ways to better manage my communications, and maybe you start to see the value of LinkedIn.
Closing your account is quite easy–two clicks from the link you provide (http://www.linkedin.com/feedback?displayContactCustomerServiceFeedback). We can move it to one click, but we have little indication that many people don’t like our service and want to get off. Of course, there is still a lot to improve, but, as others have pointed out, you have to actually try to search for someone to get value. And when people use LinkedIn with a clear business purpose, we almost always hear it works great. Having reached profitability in March and seeing revenues growing at twice the rate of membership (average subscriber is paying $300 per year), I think there several indications that LinkedIn is adding value to many of our members.
LinkedIn is a great and powerful tool for market researchers especially those helping with business planning. I have moved from skeptic to passionata after finding contacts around the world to exchange opinions with … all thanks to LinkedIn leads. The greatest door opener ever invented for sales people too. Now if you are not of an exploring mind… and not in sales or marketing… what are you doing there in the first place??
If one gets a suggestion for a job then its great. For me the LinkedIn is a way of finding new and old people to collaborate with, sometimes you meet with peoplw and know there current position but not more. LinkedIn gives that possibility.
Allows me to keep track of folks that have changed jobs. Often the only contact info I have for someone is from the company they worked for a few years ago.
It’s a lightweight resume that anyone can easily access.
You can import/export contacts to OE, Yahoo, etc.
You can use it to find out about a person or company you are doing business with. Who do they know? Who do they work with? etc.
I agree that everyone is to a certain extent updating a huge database for LinkedIn. As long as they don’t misuse that database, I have no problem with that.
You guys that critisize linkedIn because “what kind of friend wouldn’t just pick up a phone and call me” are just being ridiculous. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reached out to former business associates that I would have lost track of if not for linkedIn or some similar service. Not only that, I’ve found folks to help me, and folks have found me to help them… all passed through my known connections - and that’s the point. While head hunters have attempted to link to me, if they aren’t through my connections, I just reject/ignore… what’s the problem?
I tried to link into LinkedIn. I received an email which required me to click on a prompt which would send me back to LinkedIn, so I could use my password to officially confirm my user status. My husband’s email kept appearing, asking for his password. I imagine that because he is the primary on our account this would cause a slight hiccup in my registration but the whole point is to link an individual identity so I cannot really, quite, excuse this hideous infraction of E-etiquette.
