The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

Dave Taylor has been involved with the Internet since 1980 and is widely recognized as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written twenty business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. Dave maintains four weblogs: The Business Blog at Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave On Film, and Attachment Parenting Blog. Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought after conference and workshop participant and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs.

Are you a Blogger who uses LinkedIn?

After being involved with the computer industry and Internet for 25 years now (no kidding, I started back when there was an ARPANet and UUCP, and even helped manage the hplabs hub in Palo Alto) I've seen a lot of ideas come and go, a lot of brainstorms that fizzled when faced with the harsh reality of actual users and sustained development.

One area that's seen lots of churn is social and professional networking. From net.singles, the Usenet group later morphed into soc.singles in The Great Usenet Renaming (and, yes, I was part of the "cabal" that came up with the seven primary categories) to Friendster, Orkut, Ryze, and even O'Reilly Connection, lots of smart people have tried to find the magic mix of technology, interface design and fairy dust to create a truly compelling electronic networking venue.

And almost all of them have floundered.

There are a few exceptions, fortunately, including Myspace, which has become the killer place for 20-somethings who love music, and LinkedIn has arisen as the premier venue for professional networking online.

I'm not much into music and I'm definitely not in the 20-something category any more, so Myspace isn't too appealing, but six months ago I really began to explore the capabilities of LinkedIn. Today I remain impressed with its evolution and the caliber of the people in the network. One way I measure this? So far I haven't received a single multi-level marketing solicitation or come-on, but I've connected with fellow writers, strategy consultants, and entrepreneurs from around the globe.

As a blogger, it seemed natural that I would start blogging about LinkedIn, and sure enough, if you dig through my archives here you'll find that I have written about LinkedIn with some frequency in the last few months.

Being at the nexus of these two interests is why I was glad when I found the Yahoo Group LinkedIn Bloggers, most ably run by fellow blogger Des Walsh, who works half a world away in Gold Coast, Australia, and blogs at Thinking Home Business.

The group offers a great venue for people who are plugged into LinkedIn and are either involved with blogging or eager to learn more about blogging from their peers. It's polite, amusing, and remarkably focused on the topics at hand, not dozens of random offshoots that so painfully clutter up other discussion groups in which I participate.

That's why it is an honor for me to have been asked if I would co-moderate the group with Des earlier this week. I, of course, said yes, and now am able to also see behind the scenes at what a polite, professional group of bloggers, of LinkedIn folk, comprise LinkedIn Bloggers. Were it that all electronic groups were this free of knee-jerk flames and overly sensitive feelings.

And now, let me end with you: if you've read this far, I suspect that you are likely an excellent candidate for our group, already almost 150 members strong, and I'd like to invite you to consider joining LinkedinBloggers.

Posted by Dave Taylor at August 11, 2005 9:40 PM

Comments

Dave,

Congratulations on becoming a co-moderator, from a fellow member of LinkedInBloggers and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1610185

Regards
Harish

Posted by: Harish Keshwani on August 15, 2005 1:53 PM

Great post. I have been confused and confounded by various LinkedIn invitations, and often wondered whether it's worth trying to get involved and understand this service. Now I think I will give it a try.
And as a seven-month blogger, I'll check out LinkedIn bloggers too.
Many thanks.

Posted by: Rick Spence on September 7, 2005 11:27 AM

Dave, the absence of MLM invitations is precisely the same yardstick I used to confirm LinkedIn as a serious tool. MLM invitations by the truckload forced me to remove my membership of several other "degrees of separation" type networks.

One issue with LinkedIn, however, is the small number of very large "collectors of names", I will call them. These collectors invariably want to be at the hub of everything, yet by the size of their network, they can be little assistance to any one of their network connections. Imagine being connected to several thousand others, any number of whom will be clamouring daily for introduction requests to be passed on to the object of their attentions.

Keep the network small and tight, lean and fast operating, that's my suggestion.

The power is in the Who, not the How Many, in networking.

Posted by: Chris Blackman on October 10, 2005 6:06 PM

Dave, thanks for the link to the yahoo group. I run three great groups myself. One for Small PR Agency owners, one for Marketing Managers worldwide and one local business networking group in the Tampa Bay area.

I was recently laid off and I've been trying to maximize my LinkedIn, Ryze and Yahoo group connections. It hasn't translated into a job offer, but the advice has kept me going and kept me sane.

Posted by: Greg Hoffman on October 20, 2005 3:02 PM

I don't know what you think is so great about Linkedin.

I have entered 8 companies for which I have worked over the last 25 years and when I look for ANYONE who worked in any of them. There are NO results.

I must be a real geek/dud or the people in my previous companies, some of them containing 10's of thousands. Must not subscribe to Linkedin.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=3409657

BTW: the answer to your question should have been 42.

Posted by: Branedy on January 1, 2006 8:08 AM

Hi Dave. I came across your blog today and did not know the value of Linkedin, until now. I would had never thought of linking Linkedin with blogging and i am a newly born female computer nerd so surfing the web and finding sites like yours had been helpful in increasing my knowledge. I've joined the Linkedin bloggers, and will await the moderator's approval (or not).
Thanks for sharing the information. Cheers.

Posted by: Bernadette on October 1, 2006 10:42 PM

Great Read!

Posted by: Steven Burda, MBA on November 9, 2006 3:10 PM

Before you leave a comment, a tip: If you're interested in blogging, you should sign up for my Blogsmart News so you can stay up to date on the latest insider tips and ideas for your Internet business and marketing efforts. Sign up right now and you'll get a free copy of my "Insider's Guide to Blogging" ebook too!