Linked In - What is the point?

mr_goo
mr_goo Posts: 3,770
edited February 2016 in The cake stop
Can anyone tell me of the benefits of using Linked In please? I am at a complete loss as to any tangible benefit of this so called business social media site. I just do not get it.
Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.

Comments

  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    You find a new job on it
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,593
    Just a chance to utilise existing business contacts to expand your network. I don't think it works that well but it can get you noticed by people who might otherwise be unaware of your existence. But as above it's mainly a way of getting out there personally and being headhunted (I start my new job in 3 weeks as a result of this and I barely use LinkedIn!)
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,490
    It works well when demand exceeds supply.
    It doesn't work so well when the situation is reversed.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    It's essentially a public database of people's CVs.

    When firms or recruiters look for people to fill roles, they will look on LinkedIn as a first port of call.

    Also a useful chance to speak to people you otherwise can't in a professional capacity.
    _
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,269
    Secondary function as 'canary in the mine' on USanian tech stock bubble.

    IPO-ed at $45, reached c 250 in late 2015, now c $100. Note the peak share price put a $32bn capitalisation on a company with essentially no assets.

    The point of LinkedIn? Initial venture capital backers Sequoia Capital and the founders have made their pile, come-lately mug punters have lost a chunk of cash, and the public CV database function carries on, until the next thing. MySpace anyone?

    (Don't hold LinkedIn stock)
  • mr_goo
    mr_goo Posts: 3,770
    CVs and bragging rights of the individual is all I can see it is used for. Most of which is a 'tissue of lies'.
    I read my old MDs career brief on his achievements before he did a runner after new owners acquired the company (we are talking public listed company, btw). What he had written or had someone write, bore no relationship to the f**k up he had created in his wake.

    Also when I had my details on it and had made contacts with some of my clients. I was getting 'endorsements' on key skills from people that I had only ever met a couple of times.
    Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.
  • jimmythecuckoo
    jimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,719
    None
    http://fendrieneu.home.blog
    My blog and pod...
    Beers of Belgium Cycling Club UK
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Mr Goo wrote:
    CVs and bragging rights of the individual is all I can see it is used for. Most of which is a 'tissue of lies'.
    I read my old MDs career brief on his achievements before he did a runner after new owners acquired the company (we are talking public listed company, btw). What he had written or had someone write, bore no relationship to the f**k up he had created in his wake.

    Also when I had my details on it and had made contacts with some of my clients. I was getting 'endorsements' on key skills from people that I had only ever met a couple of times.

    If you don't want recruiters to notice you, avoiding LinkedIn will go a long way to help.

    Visa versa is also true.
    _
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Mr Goo wrote:
    CVs and bragging rights of the individual is all I can see it is used for. Most of which is a 'tissue of lies'.
    I read my old MDs career brief on his achievements before he did a runner after new owners acquired the company (we are talking public listed company, btw). What he had written or had someone write, bore no relationship to the f**k up he had created in his wake.

    Also when I had my details on it and had made contacts with some of my clients. I was getting 'endorsements' on key skills from people that I had only ever met a couple of times.

    If you don't want recruiters to notice you, avoiding LinkedIn will go a long way to help.

    Visa versa is also true.

    Absolutely - my last two jobs have come directly from LinkedIn without me doing anything.

    When looking for new staff with specific skills, LinkedIn is our first point of call. It also has an element of Friends Reunited about it and allows you to stay in touch with ex-colleagues. I like it. YMMV
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    It's a bit dull though. I posted some pics of Donald Trump in the nude with a rent boy and asked people to say 'Guns and Republicans are great. Amen' and no one did!

    Pah!
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,490
    An ex-colleague contacted me through Linkedin regarding a new business line at the weekend.
    New business signed today. Much like Facebook, it is 95% shite but the other 5% is worthwhile.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    meanredspider wrote:
    When looking for new staff with specific skills, LinkedIn is our first point of call. It also has an element of Friends Reunited about it and allows you to stay in touch with ex-colleagues. I like it. YMMV

    as one of my friends once said, if your an ex-anything there is a reason why I dont want to know you anymore :D

    it always seems like a spam generator to me, I keep getting emails from ex-colleagues asking me to add them to an account I dont even have.
  • slowmart
    slowmart Posts: 4,516
    orraloon wrote:
    Secondary function as 'canary in the mine' on USanian tech stock bubble.

    IPO-ed at $45, reached c 250 in late 2015, now c $100. Note the peak share price put a $32bn capitalisation on a company with essentially no assets.

    The point of LinkedIn? Initial venture capital backers Sequoia Capital and the founders have made their pile, come-lately mug punters have lost a chunk of cash, and the public CV database function carries on, until the next thing. MySpace anyone?

    (Don't hold LinkedIn stock)

    With a reported $8 million loss for last quarter, lowered forecast for future earnings puts further pressure on the share price.
    “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring”

    Desmond Tutu
  • TonyJams
    TonyJams Posts: 214
    With my friends on both Facebook and Linkedin why is it I enjoy keeping in touch with them on Facebook but feel nauseous when a message comes through on LinkedIn? I think it's because I see it as a further encroachment of work into the social life. Gone are the days of a straight 9-5. Mobiles and emails late at night have eroded the separation for many. I feel that Linkedin removes another layer of protection from what we do to earn a crust compared to what we really want to do with the rest of our lives.
  • hamish_mctavish
    hamish_mctavish Posts: 142
    TonyJams wrote:
    I feel that Linkedin removes another layer of protection from what we do to earn a crust compared to what we really want to do with the rest of our lives.
    I have listed "Ronald MacDonald School of Hamburgerology" as my university. People who want to contact me in a Friends Reunited stylee can do so but people who previously asked me to endorse their skills and write glowing encomiums following brief professional liaisons seem to have stopped...
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    TonyJams wrote:
    With my friends on both Facebook and Linkedin why is it I enjoy keeping in touch with them on Facebook but feel nauseous when a message comes through on LinkedIn? I think it's because I see it as a further encroachment of work into the social life. Gone are the days of a straight 9-5. Mobiles and emails late at night have eroded the separation for many. I feel that Linkedin removes another layer of protection from what we do to earn a crust compared to what we really want to do with the rest of our lives.

    Only check it when you are at work??
    _
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    Given that being an Oil & Gas geologist is pretty thin work these days I ve been helping help with our marketing people and we use it to send out articles or whathaveyou that just keep our name in the minds of people who might become clients. I don't reckon many exploration/reservoir managers have twitter accounts....
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • TonyJams
    TonyJams Posts: 214
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Only check it when you are at work??
    Allowed to use social media at work? :shock: Are you mad? My day is busy enough lurking on bike radar!
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    I use it to find contacts in companies we want to do business with. Not everyone is on it but if you have a few names you can get lucky by following the trail from one contact to another. Plus ex employees of these companies sometimes move to the competitors of their old company or to new companies that might be of interest.

    IMHO I don't find Facebook to have any merit other than the occasional means to contact relatives you've lost contact with. There's usually a reason why you lost contact with them so even that plus point isn't worth much to me.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    TonyJams wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Only check it when you are at work??
    Allowed to use social media at work? :shock: Are you mad? My day is busy enough lurking on bike radar!

    Can't use LinkedIn at work?

    Who do you work for? The Stasi?
    _
  • florerider
    florerider Posts: 1,112
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    TonyJams wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Only check it when you are at work??
    Allowed to use social media at work? :shock: Are you mad? My day is busy enough lurking on bike radar!

    Can't use LinkedIn at work?

    Who do you work for? The Stasi?

    The Stasi knew all about you without LinkedIN, took the Capitalists decades to catch up :D

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