Category Archives: Using LinkedIn

LinkedIn is so not Facebook for Professionals

January 29, 2015 by ,

handshakeI talk to a lot of people about LinkedIn – it’s what I do – and coming hot on the heels of LinkedIn being one big recruitment fest, the next most frequent comparison I hear is that LinkedIn is “Facebook for Professionals”. While that description might tap into the interactive aspect of the site, it’s still wide of the mark to my mind and not how I recommend that we think of it.

The issue for me is that people behave differently when they get behind a keyboard … particularly on Social Media. They’ll say things they would never dream of saying face to face. I can think of a few high profile tweeters who have fallen foul of the “Type & Hit Send” mentality and then regretted it.

Equally, the random sharing of information such as your breakfast habits or the fact that you are currently seated in Starbucks and “the Mango Mocha Choca is to die for” is something that should remain the reserve of the Twitter and Facebooks of this world and not something that I’d recommend subjecting new professional acquaintances or business contacts to on LinkedIn. (more…)

Article Categories: B2B Advice for LinkedIn, LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Strategy, Using LinkedIn
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Search on LinkedIn: LinkedIn giveth and taketh away

January 9, 2015 by ,

LinkedIn Commercial UseLinkedIn seems to be all about starting the New Year with a bit of a bang this year with a couple of announcements and some new policies being implemented. The latest relates to Searching on LinkedIn – so, as they say, do you want the good news or the bad news first?

Let’s start with the good news!

Since August 2012, any members on the free or basic accounts have been unable to see the full name or profile of anyone outside of their 1st and 2nd level connections in their search results. Specifically, instead of seeing the full name of a 3rd level connection, they would just see the first letter of their surname and anyone further removed from them (“Out of Network”) would appear simply as “LinkedIn Member”.

The announced change indicates (more…)

Article Categories: B2B Advice for LinkedIn, Businesses using LinkedIn, LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn News, LinkedIn Site Changes, Using LinkedIn
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Controlling LinkedIn Publisher notifications

July 15, 2014 by ,

LinkedIn Tips and AdviceYou may have noticed over the past few weeks that you have had more and more notifications concerning the new LinkedIn Publishing option. These pop up under the flag symbol that sits next to your inbox in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Notifications were always designed to let you know when there things happening that you might be interested in – this historically has been things such as people viewing your profile, commenting on a Group discussion that you are following, leaving a comment on one of your updates etc.

Now, with the current state of affairs, you are also informed when a connection of yours issues a post via the LinkedIn Publishing system, (more…)

Article Categories: LinkedIn Publisher, LinkedIn Tips, Using LinkedIn
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Blocking people on LinkedIn

April 23, 2014 by ,

blocking-linkedin-profilesHaving the ability to block people from being able to view and access your profile has long been a contentious issue on LinkedIn and there has been an ongoing campaign to get an option that mirrors a similar function on other networking sites, and Facebook in part. As a result, there has been a considerable amount of pressure brought to bear from certain quarters to create such an option, the focus coming from a personal security perspective, citing occurrences of stalking and inappropriate behaviour. (more…)

Article Categories: LinkedIn Site Changes, Security on LinkedIn, Using LinkedIn
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Silencing the LinkedIn bore

October 19, 2013 by ,

chatterboxYou’re out with friends and yet you’ve bumped into someone who clearly monopolises the conversation when they’re talking to others. You can just see the person that they are talking to slowly shut down and do that tired nodding thing with the occasional “hhmmm, yes”, all the time looking to get away.

Ring true? Well, unsurprisingly, the exact same thing happens online on LinkedIn – see I told you that it was the nearest thing to everyday interaction, albeit on the web. We can, on occasions, find that the real information that we want to receive and read can get drowned out by all the other noise that’s going on.

In this instance, what some people tend to do is flood YOUR Update stream on YOUR LinkedIn homepage with … well, THEIR updates. That is what it’s designed to do in fact – allow you to share great information that you believe your connections will be interested in with them … but in moderation.

What some people so is fall into the “Twitter stream” trap and think that it’s important to keep a constant (more…)

Article Categories: Content Marketing, LinkedIn Advice, Using LinkedIn
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LinkedIn Endorsements – my two pence worth

October 30, 2012 by ,

You can’t have failed to notice over the past couple of weeks that your updates have been filled with notifications of people endorsing each other. Whether this has been annoying you or has encouraged you to check out the profiles of those people, you’ll probably have your own opinion as to whether this is a key new feature or a step in the wrong direction.

Anyway, here’s mine …

For me, LinkedIn is a professional business that people use in a variety of ways from networking to developing business, to recruiting or job hunting. As such, anything that enhances your reputation or helps you achieve this is of benefit, particularly if it increases your standing amongst your peers or ‘ticks’ one of the list of requirements that potential prospects are working through.

My issue with endorsements is (more…)

Article Categories: B2B Advice for LinkedIn, LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Site Changes, Using LinkedIn
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