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Journal TechnoLust's Journal: Web 2.0 Business Networking: Is it useful at all? 17

Journal by TechnoLust

So there are all these sites: LinkedIn, XING, Ryze, Ecademy, Passado, etc. I'm a member of the first 2 because JtS and Eth invited me to them. Ok, I joined... now what? Obviously some people make it a contest to see who can get the most contacts on them. (Yes, I heard about it all the way on the other side of the country, but I'm not going to mention your names... you know who you are.) Ok, so now I have this large network of... people that... also have large networks of people. Ok, so I can go to a job interview and say, "Look how many contacts I have on XING! You have to give me the job." I can't do that? But... they all gave me great endorsements!

Ok, I can use people I have worked with as a reference, but... I already had all that contact info stored in Gmail.

So now what? Has anyone used this internet fad for anything other than joining and adding contacts and wondering what the hell you get for all that time you put in to it? Maybe I'm not thinking "outside the box", but then painting your case never solved video card issues.

This discussion was created by TechnoLust (528463) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Web 2.0 Business Networking: Is it useful at all? More

Web 2.0 Business Networking: Is it useful at all?

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  • For example, if I have a security issue and need to talk to a security expert, but have no where to start, I'd look at my linkedin lists for one. Not find one? Try their lists. You'll probably find one in one of their lists... now you have a contact for what you are working on.

    I think its great to have a collection of everyone I've worked with, so I can always go back, keep in touch, and develop business relationships and keep them.

    Of course, it also lends itself to spam. Can't tell you how many rec
    • And I can't just post my question on slashdot, why? ;-)

      Seriously, every time I've ran into something I couldn't handle, I posted it in my JE and got what I needed, or at least pointed in the right direction.

  • These sites are for salespeople. Unless you want to work in B2B wholesale, they are rather worthless to you.
  • Has anyone used this internet fad for anything other than joining and adding contacts and wondering what the hell you get for all that time you put in to it?

    I thought the internet was to develop a system of contacts of people who would let me crash on their couches after I begin my killi...uhm...my happy fun spree, and need places to hang out while evading the police.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • because it's running like absolute crap right now
    • Only if their servers can't handle a load of the 20 people that read my JE. ;-)

      Actually, all my internets are running slow now for some reason. One of the execs must have found a new porn site.

  • I recieved an email from this guy asking if I was interested in a job at {insert big company here}, but it was sent from a gmail.com account, not from a {@bigcompany.com} account, so I was slightly skeptical if this a direct contact at the company, or yet another contracting firm.

    I have the LinkedIn plugin for Firefox installed. Moused over the "LinkedIn" icon next to his name, and saw that he was a manager at said company.

    So yes, I would qualify LinkedIn as useful. :-D
  • you know, instant grass roots effort.

    "if elected, no more pot laws, beer in vending machines, cheerleaders for science nerds, mandatory P2P downloading and FREE ICE CREAM FOR ALL!1lebenty1!"

    and stuff like that there

    whut the heck, variations on that work for all the olde pharts when they run for office....

    besides that..I have no idea what to do with those linked dudes...run an MLM biz...don't know..free ipods, no scam!...whatever
  • I joined LinkedIn cause I think I heard about it on NPR or some such.
    But I have no contacts.
  • I use LinkedIn as a tool to keep up with all the people I meet at events and all of my customers. It proves useful to me in the following ways:

    1) I can quickly mass-email everyone if there's a big thing happening.
    2) When I send an offer to connect, that places Simpli at the forefront of their minds...so they're more likely to use Simpli for their hosting. Simpli has gained customers that way before. That's the most useful piece.
    3) My public profile (one guess as to what my nick is) links back to Simpli and
    • I can see how it's useful for sales people, but it still relies on people's willingness to join... actually this leads into other things I need to talk to you about anyway... but I think it'd be easier over email... look for one as soon as I can organize my thoughts.

      • Honestly, the way I've mostly used linkedin (until recently) was as one big auto-updating professional rolodex.

        If there was someone interesting I worked with, I'd add him/her to linkedin. Then, as I changed companies, or he changed companies and old email addresses stopped working, contact info would still remain up to date. It's worked wonders.

        It's also annoying that several people I meant to keep in touch with from previous positions, but never linkedin with, I now cannot find since they've left their o

  • Sure, I have a LinkedIn account, but it goes nowhere. At the conference I was just at, the product manager for GroupWise said that before the current round of upgrade planning, they spent a large amount of time watching executives in their native habitat. Upshot is: executives live making contacts, working on relationships.

    LinkedIn looks like a very good tool for these people.

    Me - I'm not an executive. Gimme a server to build or software to configure. :-)

  • I think they are basically wanker sites...to make people feel good and maybe generate some networking for entry lvl folks.
    and they really haven't been around long enough IMO to be a legitimate pool to pull resources from.

    of COURSE the people you have linked to are going to give you good reviews...otherwise your ass wouldn't be linked to them would it?

    *shrugs*
    signed up filled out the forms...blah blah blah...and haven't been back since =)
    that's my experience

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