I’m surprised at this lockdown, and LinkedIn’s response.

Problem: You can’t copy and paste from anyone’s profile.

Solution: (at the bottom of Glen’s post, the instructions are to turn off Javascript on your browser).

Read full post here.

Excellent article on the WSJ FINS site titled Has LinkedIn Killed the Rolodex?

I thought it was going to be an article showing that yes, indeed, LinkedIn makes a rolodex obsolete.

It wasn’t.

It talked about LinkedIn as the tool that it is, but not as a real relationship tool.  Some points of differentiation:

LinkedIn is not a customer relationship manager (CRM) or personal relationship manager (PRM).

I’ve argued in the past that I hope then don’t become one.  Why?

First, because they should just buy JibberJobber and integrate it (while allowing people to use either OR both) :p  Yes, I’m biased

Second, because they have enough product issues that they need to resolve before they jump into trying to do CRM.  Based on what they’ve done with their system so far, I’m not convinced they, as a company “get” what relationship management is all about.

LinkedIn does not, cannot and should not replace real networking.

In the article it is referred to belly-to-belly relationships.  You get in front of your contact, and actually have a real face-t0-face conversation.  They say the new belly-to-belly might be email, phone, etc., but it’s more than just connecting on a social network and then not doing anything with the connection.

Read the article, it’s short, and excellent.  And then, if you are hiding behind ANY technology, get out and meet and talk to real people.

Viva real human interaction!

Wait… what then is LinkedIn?

It’s an amazing, powerful tool that helps you (DO A LOT OF STUFF — how would you fill in this blank?)

Someone I met in Minneapolis last month emailed to ask what to do if your LinkedIn account gets hacked… I didn’t know but he reported back. He shared this part of the email he got from customer support:

Option 2: Regain access to the account by signing the following affidavit of identity before a Notary Public. Once notarized, this form can be faxed back to me or scanned and attached in your response to this message. Once received, I will submit the form to our Privacy Team to begin the account recovery process.

Affidavit of Identity:
http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3629

So there you go… you can prove who you are with an affidavit

Check out this post on Recruiting Blogs by Jim Stroud on how to post to multiple LinkedIn Groups at the same time. (watch on YouTube here)

Can you do this?  Youbetcha.

Should you do this? Um…. well… um… what do you think?

Deb Dib, a JibberJobber Partner, pointed me to this post on Mashable about the importance of social tools…

Wondering about the importance of LinkedIn, and other social tools, for your business, career management or job search?  Read this article: What Job Seekers Need to Know in Today’s Digital Market

Some highlights:

“36% of companies surveyed are using social media for recruiting. In today’s competitive market, recruiters look for the most current information on candidates, which is readily and easily available on social networks.”

Are you making this information readily and easily available?

“Social media enables us to stand out, to be more noticeable, to differentiate ourselves from the masses and to tell the whole story behind and beyond a one-page resume.”

If everyone does it, how is it differentiating?  I’ll tell you: not many do it well  I’ve done enough LinkedIn Critiques to know that there is a lot of room for improvement!

“Additionally, every field has its own industry thought leaders broadcasting on Twitter.”

I wouldn’t say every industry, but you can certainly find people to connect with and follow and network with in many industries… probably even your industry!

“More companies than ever are cutting their job advertising budgets, opting to channel their recruiting efforts through referral hiring.”

Is the hidden job market becoming less hidden?  Interesting…

As a LinkedIn Group Administrator I have the power to accept or decline access to my Group.

LinkedIn flags certain profiles as a help… here’s a snapshot of three that are flagged:

I rarely take time to check those Profiles out.  I just uncheck the box on the left (which I already did) and then approve the rest.

One person had ONE connection, but I could tell from her Profile that she was real, so I approved her… but the rest… OUT.

You have to look legitimate.  A picture helps.  A headline helps.  A summary helps… work experience helps.  Recommendations help.  Connections help…

If you want others to not even think “is this a spammer,” get serious about your Profile!

This is GREAT! Click on the image to see full-size…

This is really, really funny.  But in my experience, so true!

I first looked at it from the top down, but let’s look at it from the bottom up:

Google+ … “Do you want anyone to actually see it?”  If NO, use Google+  Ouch.

Foursquare… “Are you in a bar?”  if YES, use Foursquare Ouch.

LinkedIn… “Is it boring?” If yes, post on LinkedIn.  Ouch.

Facebook and Twitter… “Are you addicted to ‘Likes’?”  Ouch.

I like it… sums it up really well.  Thanks to my buddy Steve for sharing on Facebook…

I consider this a bug… I found it a few years back and have always been wary of trying it again… today I tried it, and it failed on me again

How did this happen?

When you ask a question on LinkedIn Answers you can choose to send (email) the question to the Inbox of up to 200 of your first degree contacts.

So that’s what I did – I chose 200 people to send it to.  I chose about 100 people with the last name of “O,” which was easy since it took just one click.  Then, I chose, one-by-one, about 100 people who’s last name started with “P.”

I hit 200. Which is fine.

On the next page it shows me the list of 200 (which I never review), and the actually message it will send, and there is a checkbox that says “send me a copy.”

The problem is that LinkedIn takes the 200 you chose, and adds 1, and now you have 201, and they don’t send anything.

Bleh!

How frustrating.

You can find a link to try to resend to the 200 again, but I am going back to only sending 199… just in case their math messes up again. I don’t have the time to redo this every time.

In summary, only send to 199

Seems like a logical progression on the path they’ve been on for the last year+.

What do you think about it?

Reference Link: LinkedIn Launches Company Status Updates [How to Get Started]

Here’s an important post to read about LinkedIn’s job seeker upgrade option (I get asked about this pretty much every time I present): How LinkedIn’s Job Seeker Package May Actually HURT Your Chances of Getting a Job

What do you think about it?