I have been into the social networking thing almost since it started, but have never gotten much benefit from it. The weakness of social network sites is that despite the fact that there are a few biggies like facebook, friendster, etc. You can never be sure where the contacts YOU want to network will be. And if you are like me, you hate getting invitations from people inviting you to yet ANOTHER social network. For these reasons and others, I have more or less avoided investing too much time in Social Networking sites. After all, my personal blog, brings me at least one of two clients a year, and until recently, the Social Networking sites really did not show me any benefit.

I recently noticed that almost everyone I know in business uses Linkedin. While I have been on Linkedin for a couple of years,

I really have seen very little return from it. Well, I have discovered the secret.

You have got to tend your network like a garden. I have spent the last couple of weeks exploring linked in, and getting to know the different features. One of the coolest features for me is the ability to ask a question of your network or the extended network. I have gotten some excellent advice using this feature.

Another great feature is the ability to recommend people, or to ask others to recommend you. Its kind of like having a living reference page for you life and career. I have been spending some time the last couple of days writing recommendations for all those in my network whom I respect and have cause to give an attaboy! It has been a fun experience for me, and bought back some lovely memories.

Anyway, if you are interested in finding out more about David Anderson, please join me on Linked in.

Crossposted to my Business Blog

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Posted by: Boyd at January 23, 2008 12:32 PM