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!

The problem was that she went from a buyer at Macy’s to an executive career coach… something I was trying to figure out.  Was there something there she hadn’t explained?  Something she was hiding… or what?

I didn’t think too much about it until she e-mailed me the new verbaige on this section, which explains the transition.  It’s actually quite brilliant, and something that I think a lot of us could do on our own profiles.

I talk a lot about the summary, but this is the first time I talk about doctoring up your company description… jump on over to the JibberJobber post to see what she did!

When you click on the “Please notify the group manager” link, it opens an e-mail with your e-mail client (one of my pet peeves on the Internet) and this subject:

I would like to join your group; my membership is pending approval

Just so you know, when I get that, I go in and approve the request (no more than once a day, I wish it could be once a week), and then reply back to say “okay!” or something simple like that.

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 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!

Brilliant!

He links to Susan McKenna’s LinkedIn profile… to get to her video is the second link.

Harry’s point applies whether you are a professional in a job search, or not, or a company, etc. This is just brilliant.

Regarding the comments on Harry’s post, which are just an absolute trip, I’ll blog about that on the JibberJobber blog… I’m thinking of titling it “how to make yourself look like a complete a$$ by commenting on someone’s blog when you shouldn’t.”

I hope not.

I see people brag about how many LinkedIn connections they have and I think SO WHAT. Usually, I’m guessing, they don’t know what that means. They aren’t getting value out of it. They aren’t nurturing relationships.

And those connections know it - they are just a number.

I’ve even seen people invite me and their message seems to bleed:

connect with me because I have thousands of first degree contacts. And that means I can grow your network so big, so fast. I can bring you riches that you’ve never dreamed of!

That’s pretty lame. So not only am I going to just be one more connection to you, but you will use my relationship with you so that you can get more… numbers.

Good luck with that strategy. It’s a house of cards.

What if LinkedIn goes away. Or your account gets shot. Or any of many things happen… ?

The key is to nurture relationships.

Whether it’s with your LinkedIn connections, your Facebook friends, your Twitter followers, your blog readers, your….

get the point?

Nurture individual relationships.

What I *should have* done was to stay in the Group, but not shown the Group logo on my profile. Duh.

Staying in the Group would have given me all the benefits of the LinkedIn Group, but choosing to not show the logo on my profile would unclutter what my viewers saw.

In this case, I can have my cake and eat it too! Here’s how:

Go to your Groups:

Click on Settings for the particular Group you don’t want to show on your profile:

The second set of radio buttons allows you to not show the Group logo… it defaults to showing it:

Of course, I’m hoping all of my JibberJobber Group members are showing the Group on their profile! So don’t do that to my group but do it on other groups to keep your profile clean.

Thanks to Thomas E. Kenny for the comment on my “benefits for LinkedIn Group members” post for his comment, which spurred this post

Can you get flagged by asking a question if you insert a link to a demo on the advanced part of the ask a question? Here is an example:

We are currently launching a web based fulfillment tool called IW Connect that allows clients who are working with brand consistency issues, tight deadlines or who are under staffed to make graphic design or text changes to pieces themselves online and then send it to print without ever having to talk to a designer. How would you ask a question around this?

Are you currently using a web based fulfillment tool? What do you see as the perceived value?

I would like to incorporate a link to this into the advanced background information, but would like your opinion on doing so. I have never posted a question, but am excited to try it.

Here is the link: http://www.iwmarketing.com/learnmore

So there’s good news and there’s bad news. First, the bad news:

You can get any question, or answer, flagged as spam by anyone, at anytime.

Someone overly sensitive can flag it. Your competition can flag it. Your spiteful ex-lover can flag it.

It’s the same as e-mail spam… anyone can submit any e-mail to the spam databases… and people do, all the time, for all kinds of non-legit reasons.

The good news is, I think this question is an excellent question in LinkedIn Answers… you are asking for real information and feedback, and exposing your network to your professional product… and who knows? Maybe someone you know will be interested in it, or know someone who will!

What do YOU think?

Here’s an example of a crappy invitation. I despise these (I’ve received … oh, about 10 of these in the last year):

Hi Jason,

I see you also utilize linkedIn to keep up with your professional contacts and help them with introductions. I would like to invite you to access my network on LinkedIn.Through my network on LinkedIn, I’ve found business people that I may want to get introduced to some day, and many of them are friends of friends I didn’t know were there. Additionally, LinkedIn has enabled me to find and reconnect with many colleagues who I used to work with but had lost track of.It’s been pretty amazing to see the number and quality of people you can reach through just a few trusted contacts. And my LinkedIn network is growing daily by literally thousands of professionals. I look forward to connecting with you!Best regards,(name, contact information)

I know why you use LinkedIn. I know it’s valuable. I know there are benefits.

I wrote a book about LinkedIn You don’t have to sell me on it.

But you did convince me that you have no idea who I am.

My request plea (!) to you is to please create personal, custom invites, not canned custom invites!