WSJ on LinkedIN
WSJ reporter Jessica E. Vascellaro wrote yesterday that LinkedIN CEO Dan Nye “is resigning after fewer than two years at the helm of the social-networking site which is aimed at professionals…The reasons behind Mr. Nye’s departure aren’t clear. The company has had high turnover of top executives in recent years as it has lost talent to broader social-networking sites such as Facebook Inc.”
Interesting. I’ve recently noticed that LinkedIN has stepped its game up with all of those fancy new applications, a slicker appearance, etc. Seems like the site and company are on their way up. So why is Nye bailing?
I never liked LinkedIN, maybe because I don’t like networking. Or maybe because a recruiter added me just to get to my former colleagues.
I love LinkedIN! And there’s so much more to it than “connections”. For example if you join groups, you can post discussions about topics of your choosing, and/or you can answer questions posted by people who want to know about your specialty. All about positioning. You can find people who need your expertise and showcase your expertise all at the same time. Brand building fa sho!
There’s a Facebook status update/twitter-esque function where you can post “what you’re working on” instead of “what you’re doing” like on FB and Twitter. Same function and same utility. People can see what you’re working on, i.e, “the launch of a new tech blog–stay tuned!” and get intrigued by your projects and want to check back.
But on another note, you can make your connections invisible so that your connections can can see how many contacts you have, but not who those contacts are. This makes it impossible for people to steal your contact list and use it for their own outreach.
This is particularly useful for PR people whose livelihoods thrive on who they know that you don’t know.