I have been trying to make sense out of Linkedin for the past few years.

Here are my findings:

1- I was initially told to accept whatever invitation would come, in order to have the larger network possible. In fact Ron Bates, the most linkedin’ed person once told me that Linkedin is like a pyramid and you better be at the top. I do not think it is a good idea, at least for me. I currently have over 50 connections, and I have set up my own limit toward 100. If you do not really know the people, chances are they won’t help anyway, so why bother

2- I am a subscriber to their premium version, the one that enables to send “inmails”, i.e. to contact people directly. This inmail stuff does not work. People who do not know you are not more likely to return your mail than in case one would have sent a regular email

3- Some people keep saying Linked has helped them generate business. It has not been my case so far, and I do not know personally anyone who did. That said, I am sure some people find Linkedin very attractive for their business

4- OK, there is one feature I love, and that is their “Answers” section. I have asked a few questions there. It is great. You are tapping into a vast reservoir of qualified people happy to help. I really recommend this section.

My little contribution to your post!

LinkedIn has been great for me. I use it two ways.

1. To catch up with colleagues I haven't heard from in a while.

2. To get an insider's view on future employers.

Has it found me a job? Not yet. But I have much better information about the companies with which I interview.

And if I can't vouch at all for someone's professional character - I don't connect with them.

While I subscribe to axiom of "who you know" versus "what you know" to get ahead, one can argue that building a networking pyramid with secondary and tertiary connections does not necessarily nurture the concept.

There is a fairly new service that overcomes the issues you cite and it's FREE. Check out: www.visiblepath.com

I've used it and it's a great way to network. It shows the "strength" of the relationship path to another person and allows you to exclude your mother-in-law, dentist, etc. from your relationships. They have an enterprise edition that can be used to manage the process from a company perspective which is a paid service.

Esther,

I just saw Randy V's comment about Visible Path and wanted to add to it.

Visible Path has a notion of relationship strength based on analysis of communications patterns just as reciprocity, momentum and length of acquaintance. That relationship strength helps sort strong ties from weak ones, both of which come in handy in different contexts. The system doesn't solve all the problems you mention, but it solves some of them, and you've given us good ideas for the roadmap.

Give it a try and let us know what we can do better.

Lynda Radosevich
Visible Path