Advantages to Linking, Connecting & Social Networking

I've been having a lot of fun lately with Linked-In, a social networking site that is particularly popular in the business and IT community. It purports to be a way to meet useful new business contacts, and I've indeed seen evidence of that. One of my contacts told me he uses it for market research; another uses it to find conference speakers; recruiters use it for hiring leads; and I myself have located a score of people I want to communicate with, but lost touch with over the past 10 years.

Where I think Linked-In really shines, however, is as an aid to tracking down or keeping up with a person you already know. True, in many cases, you can also find a person you used to know via an ordinary Web search, but LinkedIn has several advantages over that strategy. First of all, many people can not easily be found on Google. Second, even if they can, you may not easily find their most recent work position (which is what you need to deduce a current email address or phone number). Third, if you don't remember the exact spelling of their name, a Web search risks being pretty useless.

If you like or believe it is useful to network with people, Linked-In is worth checking out. I know some of you have joined in at my request and I really appreciate your recommendations and support. However, to achieve maximum potential from networking, you need to invited everybody you know as well. Some former colleagues won't respond, some will never get around to registering, while others will gladly supply endorsements of past work history and will reopen lines of communication. It's been a blast catching up and sharing "war" stories. Besides, people who already know you are fantastic conduits to business opportunities, career paths, and interesting folks.

One last thing. Recently someone expressed their concern about registering at Linked-In, because then "The Man" would find out. Hey, "The Man" knows everything about you already, believe me. There's nothing you're gonna hide from them and if you think you are, you're fooling only yourself. Besides, I don't want to know what you did a long time ago (well, I do, but over a cold beer), so lighten up. Use this tool to find people you want to find. It's so cool when somebody emails you back, after many years, remembering how influential you were.

You can sign up in a very fast way that doesn't compromise your privacy.