Social Networking

[Guest guest]

In light of the recent discussion on the list regarding employers

" knowing " each other and getting references back-channel, etc., I

thought I'd post about a social networking (for business contacts)

service that I use. Let me say first and foremost that this is *not*

a " contact list " type of service like Plaxo or the other companies

that offer to spam everyone in your address book and keep it up to

date.

My " other life " involves technology and business consulting, so I keep

a pretty detailed list of contacts, references, etc. I use a free

service called LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com

With LinkedIn you build your resume online and use search tools to

locate people you worked with, managed, reported to, etc. You can

also send invitations to people you know to add them to your

network... think of it like a " six degrees " thing. The important

part, however, is the ability for those in your network to endorse

your work and recommend you - publicly. In this way you can see how

you and someone you're considering doing business are connected,

through whom, and who you know that recommends them, etc.

If you'd like to see my public profile, which does NOT show

endorsements or recommendations, check it out at

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mreed

If you'd like to see how things look with endorsements, connections,

etc. - sign up. There's no " referral bonus " for me, and I've never

ONCE had spam from LinkedIn - very, very secure with my email address.

Once you're signed up you can view my full profile and see how

endorsements, recommendations, etc. work. For what it's worth, I get

almost ALL of my contracting and consulting offers from other LinkedIn

members and I don't solicit ANY of them - the work comes to me because

of my connections, endorsements and recommendations.

Also, don't take this email as me asking you to connect, or grow my

network. I'm pretty careful about who I connect with because I want

to make sure I know the person, etc. - it's definitely not a numbers

game.

I'd encourage you to check out their site and sign up for a free

account - again, there's no referral code, etc. - I don't get anything

out of this. See who you're connected to and who you might know.

Invite those you work with and offer to endorse them if you feel so

inclined.

Just my $.02.

Mike