Linked in, and the power of social networks

By Enrique Burgos

It’s absolutely known that Web 2.0 is changing the way we work, share information and connect with other people, but there is one place that has hypnotizes me: LinkedIn. The social network were you can find people, but with a great difference from the others…here you can share your professional connections with others, find possible business projects, career opportunities, expertise advice and more.

It’s based on the degrees away rule--you can connect with other connections through them--but always with professional aims.

In two months my connections grew from 3 to 185 (and still growing), and more than 3 million connections on the 3rd level (people connected to my 185). You have to spend some time searching for new people to include in your network, and accepting to enter into others, but not in a massive way. It’s better to have a small and selected network, rather than a huge one with people without any similar interest or activity with you.

Definitively, a great tool to increase your contacts network through the world, creating positive professional relationships that could help you today and in the future.

Enrique Burgos, is the relationship marketing manager of SEUR, a logistics company in Spain. Visit his blog at www.incentivesandrelationshipmarketing.blogspot.com.

Comments

[Don Antonucci]

I recently discovered linkedin and have also found it to be a great tool as you've described. The ability to search for past colleagues and friends, along with the automated updated listing of new people joining linkedin (related to where you've worked or gone to school) is valuable. Great post.

--Don

Don Antonucci

[Mark Hunter]

I can't agree more with your comments. The first thing a new user should do is to search for people they used to work with at a previous employer. With that simple activity it's amazing how many people you can re-connect with.