Manners for the Twenty-First Century

[rolanni]

OK, somebody explain LinkedIn to me. I have an account. Why I have an account escapes me at the moment, doubtless it had to do with procrastinating while on deadline or something similar. Lots of nice people want me to join their Circles of Influence, Associates Lists, Business Networks and Groups. I've been ignoring them, not through malice, but through a genuine lack of cluefulness. What is this thing for, in theory, and how is it supposed to work?

Comments

Social Networking with a business slant

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

For people who do consulting or freelancing it is a way for peoople to find you and for you to get in touch/back in touch with people you have worked for/with in the past.

For places you were employed, you put in those and the dates and it shows you other people who worked there at the same time. You link to them.

Other types of relationship (friendship, etc more or less require that you know the person's email.

Also you join groups, also give you links which can be professional associations or other - e.g. some of the groups I belong to are

Science Fiction readers, writers, and collectors
UU Group
Electronic Documents and Records Management Professionals
College of William and Mary Alumni Network


For example, my husband uses some specialized software called Primavera - once he has his network established, he can get actual names of people who have that in their profile in the area in which we live as long as they are "in network" (3? degrees of separation)

This article about using it for jobhunting is one example.

But you know a lot of people from SFWA - link to them first, get recommendations. Also link to fellow employees from previous, current positions.

Re: Social Networking with a business slant

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

But you know a lot of people from SFWA - link to them first, get recommendations. Also link to fellow employees from previous, current positions.

Yanno, that requires a lot more chutzpah than I actually have. I figure that people mostly don't want to be bothered by people they used to work with and don't remember me, anyway. But! Now I Get It. At least, now I Get It insofar as I'm capable of Getting It.