I also believe that LinkedIn has become the place for business networking, but I am not sure how many people use it the way it was intended. I have never been asked to connect someone to a contact of mine, and I mostly use it for browsing people. If I find someone interesting that I think I might have a connection with, I just find their email and introduce myself. (This is no different than what I do when I find a blog I think is interesting or a website that I think offers a service or information that is useful.)
I have stumbled upon online tutorials and guides about how to be a LinkedIn power user, how to collect contacts, etc... I won't share these here because I think they kind of defeat the idea that your network is really your network. I am sure if you play with Google for a few minutes you can find them. The thing is, I can't understand why someone would want to collect contacts... What's the point of being a 500+ contact power user anyway? What do you gain from it? I used to be impressed that these people know so many people -- wow that guy must be successful! But after seeing these things about how to collect contacts and after getting a few requests for contact from people I didn't know I look at all the 500+ people with a lot of skepticism and, while I hate to stereotype, it makes me question their judgment and character.
Michael Hoffman
See3 - Media for Nonprofits
1222 W. Wilson
Chicago, IL 60640
p. 773.784.7333
m. 847.668.1722
michael%40see3.net">michael
see3.net
www.see3.net <http://www.see3.net/>
http://blog.see3.net <http://blog.see3.net/>
www.DoGooder.TV <http://www.dogooder.tv/>
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