Much ado has been made of LinkedIn lately, and I’m not sure it’s warranted. I’ve been on there for two years and never noticed any real benefits, monetary or otherwise. However, given all the buzz, I decided to explore the site a bit further and see whether its networking potential is truly worth $2 billion.
As everyone knows, I’m a networker extraordinaire–always going places and meeting people, and then keeping in touch with them forever and ever, amen. I have no qualms about asking for a referral, a recommendation, a leg up. And I’m very used to living in the cyber world. So if anyone’s qualified to test-drive an online networking tool, it’s me. To make things even more interesting, my virtual Rolodex is a colorful mishmash of PR reps and writers, editors and publishers, business execs and TV producers, athletes, fashionistas, mountaineers, surf bum and sundry. At the end of this experiment, I intend to have them all coexisting happily in my LinkedIn network.
But more importantly, at the end of this experiment (if things go as the LinkedIn advertising patter would lead me to believe), I will have 3.5 more job offers than I do currently. Being that I currently get about two job offers a week (contracts, article commissions and projects included), that adds up to…umm…seven job offers a week. A delightful amount. An overwhelming one, even.
But. We will see.
My experiment has three phases.
1. Link. This involves importing all my Yahoo address book contacts into LinkedIn and asking them to join my network.
2. Network. Use LinkedIn tools to get references from old clients, prospect for new ones and ask first-degree connections to connect me with second-degree connections.
3. Pitch. The true test of LinkedIn. I’m pitching five second-degree connections, made through LinkedIn channels. In the interests of science, I’ve decided to also pitch five connections made through normal channels (i.e. asking colleagues, “Do you know anyone at ___?”) and finally to pitch five random editors who don’t know me from Eve. I will rate all 15 based on promptness of followup, open-mindedness and (the most important) whether I get the assignment.
I’m still figuring out the exact point scale, but I will let you know. As of now, I’m midway through Phase 1 and already having some interesting results, which I will share with you later.
(On LinkedIn?) Look me up–full name’s Lena Katz–drop me a note, and join my network. Then you can become part of this experiment in modern social studies instead of just reading about it.
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 7:51 pm and is filed under Strategery, Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.3 Responses to “LinkedIn Diaries”
Leave a Reply
December 15th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Lena,
Don;t even waste your time. Unless you’re a recruiter, LinkedIn is useless.
Have you ever tried Fast Pitch? Way more features - all designed to help you promote your business (as well as yourself). You can send bulk invitations to connect to members, distribute press releases, blog articles, event announcements and more. Pretty slick.
Check out this comparison chart: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/compare.cfm
Also, if you have questions - they pick up the phone!
Good Luck with your experiment!
David S.
December 16th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Great info. Dear David S. what is your reason for writting answer like this. I have thought that Linked In is great solution. Your honest oppinion and expertise might change my way. Thank you, gonesail.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Not sure - fastpitchnetworking looks like it could easily degenerate into unsolicited pitching of all kinds that feels like spam. I keep looking, but I think it does some things that LinkedIn and others did not want to do, for a reason. Everyone on the planet has a newsletter of some kind, and most contain news that is days or weeks old, and it lands in my inbox everyday. You can’t subscribe to a magazine without getting pitched a hundred times by all their advertisers and I wouldn’t want more of the same - is this what will happen to fastpitchnetworking subscribers?