Are You LinkedIn?

View Connie Crosby's profile on LinkedIn

Steve Matthews kicked us off with LinkedIn way back last summer with his post Building Profile Beyond Blogs. At that time he invited a number of us into LinkedIn and we have since watched our personal networks grow!

Up until now this has been primarily a networking tool for the hi-tech group, not to mention a number of consultants. Sure, there were your early adapters from other areas, including librarians and lawyers, but it was largely a few of us inviting each other into our networks.

That is now changing! Almost overnight, this thing has gone into overdrive and I am seeing a more diverse crowd joining in. One of my favourite uses of LinkedIn is to invite in the people who I have recently met in my various travels. Beyond a business card, I can see a lot more about them with LinkedIn: a full CV (if they are willing to put a full CV in), plus their other connections. That makes me feel a lot more connected to these people. And as their networks grow, I can see who we have in common or who I might want to meet through them.

I was at two conferences this past week, and invited a lot of people into my network. It essentially has doubled in size, and is still growing. But I was surprised at how many people were already on LinkedIn. One American colleague I invited in discovered that 40 other people from her firm were already using the service! Wow. And how cool does it look to be among them?

So my question is….are you LinkedIn yet?

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