A recent question on LinkedIn Answers posed the fundamental question, “What is the value of using LinkedIn?” The author of the question, Gema Gomez, is doing some research on social networks and created a survey, which I have answered in this post.
Since I work with executives and companies to help them create and execute against strategies for LinkedIn and other Web 2.0 venues, I attempted to answer the questions from my own experience as well as from my clients’.
Do you actively look for contacts or do you prefer to be contacted by your acquaintances?
There are numerous strategies one can follow on LinkedIn in terms of goals and time investment, so the responses would be a function of the strategy. For example, a CEO of a Global 500 may want her profile to serve as an example for clients, partners, employees and other stakeholders. She isn’t actively looking for contacts herself, but she wants a high-quality, representative profile to reflect her leadership. Personally, I am actively building a global consulting business, so I am using LinkedIn to keep in touch with people I already know, but I am also actively reaching out to people I don’t know. LinkedIn makes it easy to do both. It reduces transaction costs significantly when you learn how to use Advanced Search, and you take the time to write a thoughtful personal note. People are usually pretty responsive.
Do you add people you don’t know to your professional network? If so, what benefit do you expect to obtain from it?
Yes and no. From my own and my clients’ experiences, I have found that the most effective networks are congruent with their “owners.” Networks are diverse by nature, but each person should realize that s/he is creating a community around him/herself, and it should reflect his/her preferences. In other words, are you a “loose tie” person, or are you more conservative with how you engage with people? Even more important, are the people you care about most in your network “loose” or “tight”?
This response also depends on your strategy. Are you using LinkedIn to meet people outside your traditional relationships? I am actively building a network in Asia, for example. There is tremendous benefit here, but you have to do your homework about other cultures or industries you are trying to engage. Underlying it all is your ability to understand the venue (i.e. LinkedIn): its culture and tools, so you can use them effectively to establish trust, so you can build opportunities and manage risk.
Does a virtual professional network help you get in touch with interesting professionals in your field?
Absolutely. I have been a member for about two years, and I remain impressed by the quality of the LinkedIn membership. The venue owner and organizer can add tremendous value through tools that promote functionality that is aligned with the goals of its audience as well as novelty, uniqueness and trust. It is fairly easy to locate people with specific interests, especially as members come up the learning curve and include specific search phrases in their profiles, answer questions and interact with the community around specific interests.
Has any recruiter contacted you after seeing your profile in this network?
Yes, many recruiters have contacted me and many of my clients. LinkedIn is a gold mine for them because it lowers transaction costs of finding and interacting with people. Consequently, it’s easier for someone to refer the recruiter to a friend as well.
Why are you a member?
At this point, it would be difficult to imagine not being a member of LinkedIn and some of the others. As an executive, I have had the privilege of working with many talented people, so keeping connected as we all reconfigure our careers is very challenging. For years, I have managed thousands of contacts, and it’s much easier with LinkedIn because it allows people to manage their information to benefit themselves and the people in their networks. It is also far easier to find and connect with new people based on specific interests. LinkedIn’s search function is quite good, and there is the expectation that members are here to connect. Answers are a fantastic resource for exchanging knowledge and making connections with people who have similar interests. They also safeguard privacy.
Which services do you think are more interesting in terms of professional interaction with your peers?
I have the most experience with LinkedIn and Facebook. Many of my friends have told me the Ryze and Ecademy used to be good, but LinkedIn has surpassed them. Facebook clearly demonstrates more of the Web 2.0 edge, and it integrates work, play and entertainment more than LinkedIn. I think LinkedIn is the perfect vehicle for most Boomer execs to wade into Web 2.0. You should use Facebook as well to begin to understand the Web 2.0 Zeitgeist, which is feature-rich, integrates play and work, is extremely dynamic, features user-created functionality, etc. Orkut and Xing I use but have less experience with. I wish Xing offered a better free membership. Orkut strikes me as more social, more Web 2.0.
Do you have any particular criteria for accepting/declining someone’s access to your network?
Absolutely. A business partner of mine, Bob Lambert, describes this best: your willingness to “do business” with people is a function of two dimensions: how much you trust the person and does the person have the kind of expertise you think can help you solve a particular problem or realize an opportunity? How do they play out? Trust comes across largely through sincerity and authenticity. Does the person thoughtful enough to write a personal note that suggests a relevant area of exploration? We have all seen so many, it’s pretty easy to spot the cut/paste variety. If someone is trying to appear personal but they’re really not, that’s a strike against. Does the person ask to connect too soon? Is s/he too eager? A connection is a relationship. Better to recognize that you don’t have a relationship and collaborate on questions, introduce people to the person or comment on one of her blog posts before asking to connect. Expertise is easier. Recommendations and reading the profile are by no means fail-safe but in connection with a phone call or asking connections I know about a person’s expertise is pretty effective.
Parting Shots
- To conclude, I would go as far as to say that most of us are increasingly defaulting to “free agency.” In the U.S., health insurance is being shifted on the individual, government support is by no means assured in the future, and executive job tenures average a bit less than two years. The executive’s individual network is the main safety net. I am a member of several CMO, CIO and CEO organizations, and most executives are increasingly coming around to this reality.
- In many industries, global M&A is robust, and I forecast increasing global consolidation in many industries. Workers at all levels will face shorter job tenures and more opportunities to contract themselves out. That will give them more flexibility to design work and personal lives, but to make it work, we will have to reduce the change cost of moving in and out of jobs and consulting engagements. Networks like LinkedIn are key enablers.
- For more excellent Linkedin resources, I refer you to the blogroll here at right. The Global Human Capital Journal is an online executive journal for CEOs, CMOs and CIOs that addresses the current transformation to a global P2P economy. Its blogroll contains numerous resources dealing with technology and marketing transformation.
Here is David Pogue’s column and dozens of people gave their reasons for using LinkedIn: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/linkedinwhy/
Hi Gema! Thanks for the question! 1) Do you actively look for contacts or do you prefer to be contacted by your acquaintances? I do both. The most important thing to me is that I know my contacts and how I can help them. 2) Do you add people you don’t know to your professional network? If so, what benefit do you expect to obtain from it? I may add acquaintances, but never people that I do not know. I may engage potential connections in an email or phone dialog before accepting their invitation. 3) Does a virtual professional network help you get in touch with interesting professionals in your field? It helps me get in contact with interesting professionals in all fields. The LinkedIn tool portfolio allows professionals to quickly make informed connections with extraordinary people. 4) Has any recruiter contacted you after seeing your profile in this network? Yes. Beyond that, almost every recruiter that I have engaged in the past three months has reviewed my profile before talking with me. 5) Why are you a member? I originally joined four years ago as a way to connect with people. The network was too new and too specialized to be effective for me back then. Now, the network has reached a point of critical mass, where many (most) of the connections I need are now members. 6) Which services do you think are more interesting in terms of professional interaction with your peers? The answers section is the most interactive part of the tool. 7) Do you have any particular criteria for accepting/declining someone’s access to your network? I must know the contact, either through personal contact or a phone or email discussion. I do not accept blind requests. Your questions surround the networking aspects of LinkedIn. One of the most critical aspects for me is the ability to build an on-line presence and persona fairly quickly and easily. It is very easy for someone to know a great deal about me very quickly by visiting my profile. It’s important to me that the picture is professional and honest, so that the people connecting with me know how I can help them. LinkedIn allows me to accomplish this.”
I use LinkedIn to communicate with senior executives. Using the “hallow effect” of the person in my network, lends to my credibility, and their level of trust.
I also use it to keep up with industry trends in all sectors both public and private.
Simply put, I use LinkedIn because electronic networking is an important and growing business trend. As a professional (with a strong sense of personal privacy), LinkedIn is the only network that ‘feels’ grown-up and professional, and has been designed around people like me.
Chris, I’m excited about your new EGLI blog. It’s good practice for us ‘newbies,’ giving us experience and confidence to venture forth more widely. Many thanks. Ann.
I help business people learn how to build relationships … which will lead to an ultimate “sale” for their services.
LinkedIn can be of great value for this as it is a non-intrusive and very efficient way to connect with prior relationships (ex-colleagues, ex-classmates, ex-clients, ex-girl/boy friends). I believe that all 20+ million people on LinkedIn want to connect with people. Thus it is not a “cold call.”
I suggest initially that they search for all prior contacts that they like. It is amazing how many are on LinkedIn.And may be the only way to find and connect with these people.
A client recently searched for a C-Suite title in a specific geography. He found a number of potentials … one became a client in a couple months.
Ann, tom and Buckley, thanks for sharing. As I look at the question myself, I see that LinkedIn can satisfy two types of goals: tactical: help find & collaborate with people who have the knowledge that can help you meet immediate goals (iow, want to bring ABC inc as a client but need insider insight) *and* strategic. If your busdev team could use LI effectively, how would that change your process? Significant potential. For more on strategy & tactics, see: http://www.executivesguide-linkedin.com/blog/?p=59