Archive for the ‘LinkedIn’ Category


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LinkedIn Ramps Up Recruiting Tools

January 13th, 2009 by Erin Posted in LinkedIn, Small Business | No Comments »

LinkedIn sure loves its corporate recruiters.  So much so, the business networking site is expanding its recruitment tools.

Some highlights:

  • Customizable company information pages that corporate customers can configure to match a job opening to the profile of the LinkedIn member who is reading the material.
  • An e-mail marketing campaign tool that lets corporate customers tap into LinkedIn’s existing InMail network to broadcast job openings and other messages.
  • An expanded banner advertising program.
  • A flat fee annual subscription for job board postings.

LinkedIn is hoping these new features will bolster Recruiter – an applicant tracking-style tool – with search, collaboration and even more tracking features. The new pay-per-seat service will also allow recruiters to send messages to LinkedIn members, store information on prospective candidates, share data with co-workers and create job-offer templates.

Kudos to LinkedIn for trying to beef up its brand, although I worry that some companies will be put off. These new services seem rather commercial – and seem similar to Monster and CareerBuilder.

Does any one use banner ads anymore?

Do people still respond to email marketers?

Still LinkedIn says it adds nearly a million new members every two weeks – so they must be doing something right.

Right?

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Twitter vs LinkedIn: The New Face of Social Media

January 6th, 2009 by Erin Posted in LinkedIn, Small Business, Twitter | No Comments »

Something stinks in the world of social media.

There are too many sites. Too many profiles. Too many friends, followers, and contacts.

In the beginning, MySpace and Facebook were the end of the social media line. Not anymore.

Enter LinkedIn and Twitter.

Both are in a head-to-head fight over popularity and validation, especially in the world of small business.

True both can help generate links, forge relationships, and generate direct sales. But, like in any race, there is only one victor – and this case, I believe it will be Twitter.

Here’s why.

Twitter. It’s all the rage lately. It offers the unique ability to connect with a ton of people you normally wouldn’t have access too – and it all begins with a simple one line update, or tweet.

Here’s a real life example.

A recent Wall Street Journal article featured a woman named Alexa Scordato. When Alexa was looking for a job she didn’t email her LinkedIn contacts about possible openings. Instead, she sent a tweet via Twitter.

Her brief message: “Hey there! Looking for a Social Media job up in Boston. Are you guys doing any entry level hires?”

Within a week, according to WSJ, Alexa had an interview. Within two weeks, she had a job.

Twitter also has the potential to drive some serious traffic to your site. Simply enter the URL into your tweet and your site is golden.

Now Linkedln, on the other hand, is whole different ball game. The site is all about e-mail invitations, connections, and building a professional network.  You build your profile, then invite people (or friends) to join your network. While LinkedIn does have the one line update feature- like those found on Twitter and Facebook – it’s not the driving feature on the site. In my opinion, you really have to know LinkedIn to use it to your advantage. Think of it as a meet and greet arena; users must set up a profile and start introducing themselves around.

Seems to me Twitter can maximize your brand with minimal effort. For LinkedIn users, well, that could take a while.

Go ahead. Give a tweet on Twitter – and see where the next big thing in social media will take you.

Sorry LinkedIn.

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LinkedIn LION – Why?

August 11th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Developers, LinkedIn | No Comments »

Have you ever noticed a LinkedIn profile that has “LION” or “L.I.O.N” or “Open Networker” in the name?  LION stands for LinkedIn Open Networker, and I’m not going to beat around the bush here: I just don’t get it.

LinkedIn is not a popularity contest.

What good are 500+ connections if you don’t actually know any of them?  Are you suddenly more important (more popular?  more profitable?) if you have 1,500 connections on LinkedIn?  The goal of networking is to build relationships with people, not to collect their email addresses and add another notch on your Rolodex tally.

Today I have 185 contacts in my LinkedIn profile, a number that may decrease in the near future.  I’m going to remove anybody whom I am not 100% comfortable calling and just saying hello.  If I have to call you, explain who I am and where I work, then honestly I don’t think there’s much reason to include you in my professional network.  And that’s what LinkedIn is supposed to be - a professional networking resource.

Here’s my LinkedIn Network Quality Test.  To be in my LinkedIn network (not that it’s an honor), a contact must fit this criteria:

  1. I trust you.
  2. I like you.
  3. I have had more than one email or phone call with you at some point in our relationship.
  4. I want to do business with you sometime in the future, if we don’t do business together already.

 

That’s it.  These four criteria embody the exact opposite of the LION philosophy, which is simply: if you have an internet connect and can type my email address, welcome to my network.

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Fake LinkedIn Users

July 7th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in LinkedIn | 2 Comments »

Really, I have absolutely no idea why this bugs me so much, but man does it bug me.  Fake LinkedIn users are all over the site, especially in the Answers section.

How do you spot them?  Easy:

1)   Very generic name

2)  Zero connections or just one connection to somebody else with just one connection

3)  They ask lots of stupid or inflammatory questions

 I first realized this was happening when I saw a question from Jessica Jones.  Her (probably his) questions are odd and frequently offensive.  Why is she fake?  Let’s see, there is no “Hostile Games” company and Jessica Jones is a fictional character from Marvel Comics.  I complained to LinkedIn a few times about her, but her/his profile still exists.  Check out the “Jessica’s Questions” link on the profile to find some gems.

Even more frustrating are the countless LinkedIn users who actually answer her/his questions.  I just feel like we’re all getting duped, and I hate feeling like the fool.  I suspect the profiles are created by somebody doing a paper on social web sites or human interaction or something like that.  But do that on MySpace or Facebook.  Leave LinkedIn to the professionals, please.

LinkedIn needs to do something about this.  It’s a growing problem and erodes my trust of their network.

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LinkedIn is Slow, Slow, Slow

July 3rd, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in LinkedIn | 18 Comments »

I can’t be the only one with this problem.  LinkedIn has been sloooooow lately.  I think they’re having some network/bandwidth/scalability issues.  I doubt it’s me – all other sites are still nice and quick to load.

Has LinkedIn grown too quickly?  Is the new UI running some inefficient code?

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