LinkedIn - this isn't Facebook

I'm with you op, linked in for me is strictly professional, I do have uni people on there but they are all in professional services within various industries that I'm interested in.

Don't use it for active social networking, more of a contact point for those I lose sight of. Saying that I have updated it a fair bit as of yesterday. If someone did something on there, posted a stupid comment etc, they would be removed immediately.
 
LinkedIn got me my current job too.

...Just to elaborate...

I think if the friends at Uni are still in the same field then it can be an invaluable tool. I, however, don't use it as a social networking tool - it's purely professional.
 
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I use it and have friends from uni on it for the purpose of expanding the network being you never know who is going to look at your profile with a view to looking for a new recruit.
 
Gilly said:
S'all the same to me. Social networking = social networking.
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Except LinkedIn is professional networking :p

On LinkedIn I connect with people I may not socialise with, but are useful business contacts that I have or have had good professional relationships with.
 
Just because you've had requests from people it doesn't mean you have to accept them!

You should stick to just making contacts with people who you have actually worked with.

I personally think it's very good because it's not Facebook, there are many people I have as connections who were business colleagues but I wouldn't dream of being Facebook friends with them, nor do we know each other well enough to do so.

Ultimately it depends what industry you work in, but it can be an invaluable tool.
 
I think anyone that has the time to be browsing any type of social networking site obviously isnt working hard enough and has too much time.

Linked in seems pretty pretentious to me, more fool the employers who are giving people "75K" jobs through a Linked In profile.

Im with Kwerk, I cant wait until this pathetic obsession with this sort of stuff ends.

In MY humble opinion, it seems to be used more by people with inbuilt insecurities who feel they must put their personality/skills out there and on display to anyone who is desperate enough to be trawling this sort of website in the first place looking for staff.

If you are among the best at what you do in your chosen industry, you certainly do not need a crappy web profile on Linked In to make everybody aware of how good you are.
 
AHarvey said:
Is there much call for photographers in that field? :)
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Yeah I guess, but most work through press agencies or as press officers rather than solely photographers. You might get more traction with AP or Reuters maybe.

Dr. Pain said:
I think anyone that has the time to be browsing any type of social networking site obviously isnt working hard enough and has too much time.

Linked in seems pretty pretentious to me, more fool the employers who are giving people "75K" jobs through a Linked In profile.

Im with Kwerk, I cant wait until this pathetic obsession with this sort of stuff ends.

In MY humble opinion, it seems to be used more by people with inbuilt insecurities who feel they must put their personality/skills out there and on display to anyone who is desperate enough to be trawling this sort of website in the first place looking for staff.

If you are among the best at what you do in your chosen industry, you certainly do not need a crappy web profile on Linked In to make everybody aware of how good you are.
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Really?! :confused:

For my field it's pretty much a given that if you've applied for a job the employer will look to see what your internet visibility is like and what your LinkedIn profile says?
 
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Networking has always been a useful business tool, especially in the professional services arena, I use LinkedIn for business and the only people I have on there are people that I have done business with.
 
platypus said:
What do you do exactly Icebus?
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I work in international elections/conflict countries that are transitioning out of conflict. Basically we go in and observe whether the country is living up to it's legal obligations in terms of protecting the rights of its people and allowing everybody equal access to the process. We then feed that back to the electoral commission and hopefully they act accordingly.

And thanks Moses - but props on your Google-foo ;) I've edited my Trust settings a tad now lol.
 
IceBus said:
This is kind of a mild rant thread, but I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

LinkedIn is pretty big in my sector (international aid) and so I use it quite a lot to network with colleagues (particularly based in the USA). I've always only added people I've worked with or who I would happily give a reference about etc.

Recently however, I've started getting loads of requests from people I knew at university. Now in the nicest possible way I have no ******* idea if they'd be any good at any job, as I could mainly tell you what drinks they liked and who they hooked up with.

I don't know if it's the whole 'OMG must add more people' attitude of Facebook or what, but I really don't want LinkedIn to turn into a stupid social network, as at the minute I find it pretty useful for professional networking.

What do other people think? Would this sort of thing bother you?
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While I sort of agree with you, I do think there's value in being connected to people in professions other than your own.
 
platypus said:
Sounds good. How do you get into that lark then?
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Politics BA > summer volunteering in the West bank > internship with NGO A > internship with NGO B > full time job(s) with NGO A >....> profit :)

scorza said:
While I sort of agree with you, I do think there's value in being connected to people in professions other than your own.
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I get what you mean, but I guess I have a problem adding somebody if I can't say something about their professional demeanour and the quality of work they produce.
 
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I don't have a facebook account but I do use linkedin. It's actually proved quite useful as jobs/agencies have used my colleagues references on there.

MW
 
IceBus said:
Politics BA > summer volunteering in the West bank > internship with NGO A > internship with NGO B > full time job(s) with NGO A >....> profit :)



I get what you mean, but I guess I have a problem adding somebody if I can't say something about their professional demeanour and the quality of work they produce.
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It's more of a networking tool than a referencing tool. i.e. by adding someone else, you will be able to understand how they are connected, potentially opening up introductions to people who it would be beneficial for you to speak to.
 
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