Linking Up with LinkedIn

If you haven't already, I recommend checking out and joining LinkedIn. It is sort of like Myspace for adults. You can see my LinkedIn profile here or click the button under my profile on this page that says, "View my profile on LinkedIn." You can essentially put an online biography and resume on your profile and then connect to others. People can give recommendations on your profile as well. It is a great way to stay in touch and share your current information with many people at once.

I have been a member for a while, but I only recently have been using it to connect with others. I read a couple of posts on Guy Kawasaki's blog on using LinkedIn and that pushed me to put some more time in with it. You can read the posts that I mention: Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn and LinkedIn Extreme Profile Makeover.

Once you have connections, if you do a search for a specific person or company, you will see how closely you are connected through your own contacts. You will be surprised how many connections you have that are already connected with someone you are looking to meet. The site shows how many degrees away you are, but many that I have seen are within 3 degrees: I am connected to someone who is connected to someone else who is connected directly to the person I am looking for. Make sense?

For me it has been great to connect with college friends, former coworkers and associates.

I look forward to getting some invitations to connect from some of my readers and I will share my thoughts on the system as I have used it more.
~Paul