I was just on a product demo where the host said “and you can even link back to your LinkedIn profile right there, for others to see and click on!”

It reminded me of WHY I don’t do that!  Hardly ever do I share my LinkedIn profile.  Here are some of my thoughts on that:

The most compelling reason I don’t share it is because I don’t want you to go there.  Whuh??  Really, I don’t want you to go there.

I would much rather you go to JibberJobber.com, which is my company of over two years, and manage your career information.

I would rather you go to my JibberJobber.com blog, or this LinkedIn blog, or my Facebook blog.

I’d even rather you go to Amazon.com and buy the book from there (even thought it’s better for me if you buy it from the publisher, and it’s better for you, since you’ll have the option of buying it as an eBook).

Of course, from my LinkedIn profile, you can click on links to JibberJobber, or these two blogs.  But I don’t even care for you to go there… I want you to take the shortest path to something more actionable (for YOU and for ME).

The other compelling reason to not put a link to my LinkedIn profile anywhere (like below) is because I don’t want you to think that I want an invitation to connect.  Not that that’s exactly what it’s saying, but many people are growing their networks without even knowing why, and I don’t want to become just another number for you.  If you want to find me on LinkedIn, and then invite me, at least you are doing some work to get to that point… but I’m not going to hang it out there and have some people think I’m saying “please invite me to LinkedIn!”

These are some reasonswhy I don’t (yet) put a linkedin image on any of my blogs, like this:

And why I don’t put the LinkedIn link in my e-mail signature:

Now, if YOU don’t have any other site, than it TOTALLY makes sense to put the link to your LinkedIn profile as your URL… but if you have a site where you eventually want people to end up, then point them there!

Having problems with your LinkedIn Account?  Wait, don’t create another one YET!  There are two reasons I suggest you don’t create an account.  First, and not the most important imho, is that it’s against policy:

Of course, putting an e-mail address in the name field is against policy also, but it’s sparsly enforced.  That’s another subject :p

The other reason, and I think the most compelling reason, to not create a duplicate account on LinkedIn is because you lose the power of the connections.

Think about it – let’s say you have 100 connections on LinkedIn.  You create a new account – are you going to reinvite those people?  You’ll start to get branded as a social networking nut, probably.  Trust me, start sending me multiple invitations and you’ll start to get more of your e-mails to me going to my mental spam bucket, quick!

Also, what if you have recommendations on the old account?  Are you going to ask those people for new recommendations?  You certainly don’t want to lose them.

Of course, if you think you want to have two active accounts, it’s a pain to maintain the profiles, and juggle who you connect with…

I’ve heard of a few reasons why people would want to set up multiple accounts but I always recommend against it… it’s just too much work!

Steve Tylock wrote his book, The LinkedIn Personal Trainer, the same time I was writing I’m on LinkedIn — Now What??? He actually beat me to press, though… so I can’t claim the fame of having the first LinkedIn book (darnit!)

Anyway, he’s a very nice, savvy guy, and he has EXCELLENT thoughts on the groups stuff.  Here are two posts he wrote about LinkedIn Groups:

Group Search Available On LinkedIn – he says “It’s not perfect, but it’s a whole lot better than what you could find out yesterday” …

What We Didn’t Know About Groups… – probably the biggest issue the new LinkedIn Groups search function exposes is the number of like-groups … that is, the number of groups dedicated to a single cause or group, exist.  In Steve Tylock’s example, he says there are four alumni groups for “SUNY Buffalo”… doh!  Which one is school-sanctioned?  Which one should I join?  Which ones should I NOT join???

This can be (will be) a big issue.  Now, interestingly, my JibberJobber Career Management LinkedIn Group has almost 1,000 members (I think it’s around 800 right now).  If someone started another JibberJobber group, I don’t think I’d have a problem with that, as I’d love to have a fan create a group and promote it… how cool would that be?

Whoa… but what if someone who is a competitor, or a leech who just wants to benefit from a brand I’ve created comes along… then I have a typical branding issue.

This is exactly what has been exposed with the Groups searching ability on LinkedIn… interesting problem, eh?

Unfortunately, it’s not the only problem that has come to light because of the searching ability on LinkedIn Groups.  The comments about LinkedIn Group searching has created a storm over on the My Virtual Power Forum (used to be My LinkedIn Power Forum), which have really been an interesting read.

More on that later.

I got an e-mail from LinkedIn yesterday, as a group owner, that they are building a search feature into the LinkedIn Groups page by the end of this week.

It’s about time :p Whenever I talk about LinkedIn Groups, one of the most common questions is “how do I find LinkedIn Groups I should join?”

I’ve even blogged about finding LinkedIn Groups before, and tried to piece together some sources for you… but maybe that will all be useless and outdated once July 11th comes around.

There’s a bunch of information on yesterday’s blog post at the LinkedIn blog about this feature… the thing I found most interesting is they say there are over 90,000 LinkedIn Groups.

Man, that’s a lot more than I would have guessed!  After they release the search feature we’ll be able to see which Groups we should join

If anyone should know what LinkedIn is, it is the job seeker.  Not that LinkedIn is just for job seekers, or just for employment purposes, of course.  But it’s a great place to be if you are a professional concerned about your career (job seekers fall into this category).

So I was quite curious when I was on JobDig’s website and saw their poll asking “Are you on LinkedIn?”  Check out these results:

I couldn’t believe the response… 51% has never heard of it??? Job seekers who don’t know about LinkedIn?  Lots of thoughts flew through my mind, one of which was, no matter how much press (and money) LinkedIn gets, and what their growth rate is, there is still a TON of opportunity to grow.

Here are other misc thoughts:

1. Maybe JobDig has a readership/viewership that is not the same as LinkedIn’s (avg user makes over 100k, etc.).
2. What is “our” role in spreading LinkedIn’s brand?  Isn’t it good for us if more people join and use LinkedIn?  (my answer is NO, I’m NOT an evangelist for LinkedIn, and people are going to use it or not… but it’s not my role to be their marketing agent)
3. Many of these job seekers probably don’t understand the value of networking in a job search… I know I didn’t when I started my search in 2006.
4. There is a lot of noise online, and with hundreds of thousands of social networks, it’s easy to get lost in the fray.

And, with enough people logging on and wondering what the heck they are supposed to do (same prob I have with JibberJobber.com), they aren’t getting as many product evangelists as they could.  That’s the nature of the beast, though… a sophisticated system isn’t always intuitive.

For the 25% who said “yes, I think I still have an account,” or “Nope, what’s the point,” perhaps they should pick up a copy of I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???

Thanks, JobDig, for the survey results!

Jennifer Leggio interviewed Allen Blue on her ZDNet blog, and got some good answers.

Of the more interesting points to me personally was the idea from Jeremiah Owyang that LinkedIn could, with some work, become a corporate standard for Intranets.

I may have no vision, but I don’t understand how in the world this would work.  My first real job was developing an Intranet with an amazing team at Simplot, and back then (pre-2000) our Intranet was amazingly functional.  And very customized to our company needs.  Is LinkedIn getting into the corporate intranet space?  I have a hard time seeing that play out.

Along those lines, Allen says that LinkedIn employees refer to LinkedIn as a “productivity tool.”  This makes a lot of sense.  I found it interesting that they are a productivity tool for assumedly (is that a word?) employed professionals… which is great because I certainly don’t want them taking any of their money and putting JibberJobber functionality into their system (inevitable, I’m guessing, but still :/).

And, along those lines, Allen says “Some of that investment may turn into a partnership or a purchase…”

I would LOVE to know what kind of technologies LinkedIn would be interested in partnering with or purchasing. I happen to know a bunch of JibberJobber users who would love a tighter integraton with LinkedIn

Take a few minutes and click over to Jennifer Leggio’s interview with Allen Blue.

What do YOU think LinkedIn should do with the $53M in funding?

I continue to hear about LinkedIn recommendations, and various ideas about their value. Are they fake? Are they worthless?

I talk about LinkedIn Recommendations in my presentations, and how valuable I think they are. Of course, they can be junk, but if you go about it with a smart strategy, I think they are worth it. Giving them and receiving them.

Here are a few things that have come up over the last year:

On Giving LinkedIn Recommendations:

Rule #1 is only give a recommendation when you can, or should. Have you worked with the person in a capacity where you can professionally endorse them? If you can’t, then don’t leave a recommendation.

Think about it, when you meet someone in the grocery store for the first time, can you really professionally endorse them? Not likely.

Beyond that, the best LinkedIn Recommendations are specific, not vague. I blogged about this here.

On Requesting LinkedIn Recommendations:

I talk about 3 ways to request a LinkedIn Recommendation. I don’t like the first option, moderately like the second option, and recommed the third option (which is to GIVE a LinkedIn Recommendation first).

When I talk about this, Rule #1 from above applies… don’t go give them out like they are candy, rather, only when you can professionally endorse someone.

Beyond that, when you give a LinkedIn Recommendation, make sure do so without expecting a reciprocal favor. In other words, give it because you genuinely mean it… not because you are trying to entice someone to recommend you back! Of course, if they do, that’s great! But don’t expect it.

When should you ASK for a recommendation, and how should you ask? Let me know what you think… and then I’ll let you know what I think!

Check this out:

This is what I see on a guy’s profile this morning. I chuckle as I think about the hundreds of people who have heard me speak this year about the simple, low-hanging-fruit opportunities to make your profile look more “on purpose.”

No really, there’s nothing WRONG with leaving it like this, which is what LinkedIn unknowingly encourages you to do. But think about it – as your view, as your visitor, you aren’t making this any easier for me (and it’s all about me, right?).

What if this person would put the name of the website there, instead of the generic term “My Company?” Take an extra 60 seconds today to customize your website text… it’s uber-easy, and it makes your profile look more “on purpose.” All you do is choose “other” in the drop down box, instead of “My Company.”

I would show you some examples of what it *could* look like, but LinkedIn is …. um, down right now :p

I posted Group Pontification back in March, when I stated I was going to do an experiment. My JibberJobber – Career Management Group on LinkedIn now has 476 members, with very little marketing. I’m not suggesting that you can have a group with hundreds of members with “very little marketing,” but I really haven’t pushed the Group.

I’ll write a third post to wrap the Groups idea up, focusing on the value of LinkedIn Groups for the group owner… for now let’s talk about the value of Groups for people who become members.

The value of Groups is quite elusive, so if you don’t “get it,” you aren’t alone. Let me list the things I have been able to determine:

1. Expanded search capability. In the Advanced Search section of LinkedIn, you can choose to limit or include other Group members in a search. I haven’t played around with this but they way they write it, it seems you can’t include your network AND Group members, rather either or.
2. Expanded findability factory. Turn #1 around, and the idea that “those people” who are searching for “you,” in various capacities (employee, employer, vendor, customer, partner, etc.) will have a better chance of finding you if you are both members of the same Group.
3. Ability to browse through other Group members. Supposedly these are people who we will have something in common with … although I would guess that’s true less than 50% of the time.
4. Ability to inMail other Group members. This may be one of the most valuable reasons to be in a Group. I tried to inMail someone at a second degree from me and got the “upgrade now” screen… and then I tried to inMail someone who was a second or third degree but a member of a Group I’m in, and was able to do it. Wow, this is a huge compelling reason to join as many Groups as you can, if you have a proactive LinkedIn strategy!

So what am I missing? Some of these might seem trivial (like #3), but really, being a member of a group increases your ability to find and be found, and communicate with other Group members. Not too shabby.

I’ve seen LinkedIn Groups get slammed because it doesn’t have richer communication functionality, like that you’d find in a Facebook Group… but within the LinkedIn world, I think three of these four benefits are quite compelling.

And it’s why you’ll find people who are in a TON of Groups.

Some gems on LinkedIn Groups throughout the blogosphere:

1. Expand Your Network with LinkedIn Groups – by Scott Allen himself, check out the comments which are rich with info
2. [MyJobTIGER] Top Advantages Of Joining Groups On MyLinkingPowerForum.com – I think this is a splog but it’s a post that Vincent Wright wrote which is very good
3. Get Linkedin To Groups! - Rocky VanBrimmer from Central Ohio Network
4. LinkedIn Review #3: How to Use Groups – Bill Branstetter’s recruiter perspective on how to use Groups on his Recruiter Resources Review blog
5. Using LinkedIn Groups - Mike Mueller on Lenderama (which is not a llama)

and here’s an official LinkedIn blog post about Groups:

What’s new in LinkedIn Groups? Learn more (Sept 21, 2007, by Ben Guthrie)

What am I missing? Next post in this series is the value of LinkedIn Groups for the Group owner.

Looking for more info on LinkedIn?  Check out my book!

All it takes to be different… to show you care… is one simple line.  It’s not much, is it?