OK, at the risk of sounding like an asocial networker, I keep wondering what we’re all accomplishing on LinkedIn. I have to give the creators of this business-focused social networking site a lot of credit. It seems like just about everyday, someone wants to be linked in with me.
I’m just not sure why, or what we’re all supposed to do now that we’re all "linked in." Facebook, I get. And while I may not enjoy spending time on these types of sites, I appreciate how those who do use and enjoy them. MySpace, among other things, can be a great music discovery site. We encourage our clients, as well as their airstaffs, to create profiles on these sites.
But with LinkedIn, I’m still trying to figure out what we’re all doing. I have heard isolated stories of how various people have found a contact on LinkedIn who can provide a specific service. Or how someone recently found a job by mining their contacts.
For the rest of us, however, the fact that we’re LinkedIn doesn’t seem to be leading anywhere. I also have a social network etiquette problem with this site. If someone I know asks to "link in" with me, I feel an obligation to do so, because by not clicking "accept," I feel like I’ve snubbed someone who has reached out to me.
Then there are the people who ask to link in, but whose name I don’t immediately recognize. As a business person, I start wracking my brain (and Outlook) to try to figure out who this person actually is. And if I click on "I don’t know Joe Blow," LinkedIn doesn’t pop up a mini-bio. Instead, it rejects the request.
There’s got to be a better way to get connected, and interact on a social networking site. For me, LinkedIn isn’t it.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I couldn’t agree more, Fred. I’m on LinkedIn because it seems like an interesting application, but I’m really not sure what the application does for us in our professional lives. Most of the people I want to be LinkedIn with, I already am via email. We do some of these things as timesavers, and end up spending more time feeding them with our time (“click here to accept”, etc.).
I just checked the Linkdin site and put my name in there search fields. I’m there! I have no idea how I got listed.
For me, LinkedIn works best as an online resume.
I like knowing that if someone Googles me, not only will they find out what “Bruce Barber” the Canadian performance artist is up to, but they’ll also see what I’ve been doing…
Thanks for articulating what I’ve been thinking since joining LinkedIn a few weeks ago.