I’m not convinced that it does.
In the first part of this series, I summarized my views on good, old-fashioned networking and why I’m such a strong believer in it.
In this article, I’ll explain how I see LinkedIn, a professional social networking service, fit into my idea of networking.
Part I: Doing It the Old Fashioned Way
Part II: How LinkedIn Fits In (this article)
One of the biggest social networks for professionals is LinkedIn. The idea is that you set up an account and provide resume-like profile information. You then “connect” with other LinkedIn members, who become part of your direct network. Through them, you are indirectly connected to other people and can, supposedly, ask for introductions to make any of those people part of your direct network.
I’ve been a member for about two years now. As of this morning, I have 63 direct connections, 3200+ “two-degree” connections and a whopping 271,000+ “third degree” connections. Yet in the two years I’ve been a member with all these relationships, I have yet to get any leads — solid or otherwise — for work.
I’m not the only one. This is evidently a major complaint among members. Yet they all stick to it, trying to work the system.
Why LinkedIn Isn’t Working For Me
I have three theories on why LinkedIn is not working — at least not for me:
- Linked in, being an Internet-based network, appeals primarily to technology people. So the user base is deeply skewed toward technology-related fields. I’m a writer who writes about using computers, so I’m on the fringe of this network. I think that people more heavily involved in technology may find LinkedIn more valuable. But I’m extremely disappointed with the number of aviation-related professionals on LinkedIn. Of the three that I’m directly connected to, I brought all of them into the system and two of them only have one direct connection: me.
- Members have either the “what’s in it for me” or lack of confidence problem I discussed above. As a result, they’re not very likely to highly recommend contacts. To be fair, however, I have had no requests for recommendations in the past two years. In other words, no one has come to me and asked for information about any of my contacts, which include freelancers that do layout, indexing, writing, and all kinds of publishing-related work.
- Members simply aren’t working the system.
You Gotta Work the System
A few months ago, when a LinkedIn contact asked me whether I’d ever gotten any work because of my LinkedIn membership, after admitting that I hadn’t and discovering that he hadn’t, I offered to ask a friend of mine who I consider a professional networking expert. She’s also a member of LinkedIn and she’s the one who’d pulled me on board. When I asked her the question, she admitted that she hadn’t gotten any work either.
“But I’m not trying very hard,” she added.
I knew immediately what she meant. You can’t simply put your name in a hat and wait for someone to call you with work. You need to work your connections. You need to make sure everyone remembers you and thinks about you when they have a need. You need recommendations. You need to build new connections through the ones you already have.
In other words, you need to network the old fashioned way.
And that’s where LinkedIn falls short of people’s expectations. Yes, you can use it to track down contact information for former classmates and colleagues and clients. But unless you actively keep in touch with these people, you may as well keep an address book in your desk drawer. LinkedIn only puts out what you put into it.
Full Circle
Which brings me back to my original example. Suppose I add Adam to my list of LinkedIn contacts. (The big challenge, of course, is getting him to sign up if he isn’t already a member — non-tech people are extremely cautious about signing up for any online service, even if it’s free.) And suppose Pete (remember him?) is also a member of LinkedIn and gets John to join. Pete refers John to me via LinkedIn. John sees my resume and is impressed. He asks Pete for an introduction. Pete uses LinkedIn to introduce me to John. John becomes part of my network and I introduce him to Adam.
Seems like a long, roundabout way to get things done, but if all of us were already members of LinkedIn before any of this started, it would go smoothly, like clockwork. And, theoretically, a lot of it would be do-it-yourself stuff, with John finding me through Pete’s contact list. A few clicks and introductions are made. E-mail is exchanged, then phone calls. And relationships are solidified by business transactions.
That’s the idea behind LinkedIn.
Sadly, that’s not what’s happening. Not yet. But I’ll continue to try to build my LinkedIn network and try to make some use of it.
Are You LinkedIn?
If you’re a linked in member, use the comments link or form for this post to share your LinkedIn user ID with the rest of us.
If you’re not, check it out. You might benefit from it.
Either way, I’d love to hear experiences of LinkedIn users. Use the comments link or form for this post to share them.
My tours out of the Phoenix area — including Scottsdale, Deer Valley, and Glendale — start at $795 for up to three people. That’s not per person; it’s per flight. (It costs the same for me to fly no matter how many I have on board, so why screw around with complex per-person pricing and minimum passenger numbers?) That price will get you a great 50-60 minute tour of the entire Phoenix area, including a flight right down Central Avenue at building rooftop level.
But since I’m based in Wickenburg and I don’t have to fly anywhere to do a tour from Wickenburg, my prices out of Wickenburg are considerably lower. For example, I can do a 25-minute tour of the area for only $195 for up to three people. (Sign up soon; the price is jumping to $225 when the 2007/2008 season starts in October.) I offer short tours like that in Wickenburg in an effort to provide a service that locals can afford. But apparently the folks who find my brochures down in Phoenix — and there seem to be an awful lot of them — are willing to trek up here in their rental cars to take the shorter tour.
Instead, if they’re anywhere near I-17 or Loop 101, I send them to I-17 north and tell them to get off on Carefree Highway (Route 74). Head west for about 35 miles on a traffic light free, two-lane road that goes past Lake Pleasant and through some beautiful and still pristine Sonoran desert landscape. Lake Pleasant’s overlook makes a nice stop on the way or on the way back, I tell them. At the end of Route 74, make a right on Grand Avenue and drive 10 more miles to Wickenburg. Go through three traffic lights. About 2 miles past the third traffic light is the airport, on the right. I’ll be waiting by the red helicopter, I add.
We go for a flight around the area and I point out the three main guest ranches (which are closed for the summer), Vulture Mine (which is closed for the summer), Downtown Wickenburg, the Hassayampa River Preserve (which has limited hours in the summer), the river (which may or may not be flowing; usually not), and Box Canyon. If it’s a weekend, they’re usually thrilled to see people driving quads and trucks down in the narrow slot canyon where the water always flows. They’re always impressed by some of the larger homes on the south and northeast sides of town, especially the one with the heliport and the big yellow house that looks so unusual here. We sometimes see cows from the air, but seldom see anyone on horseback. It’s just too darn hot in the summer.