Week 4, What Happened to me on LinkedIn

Okay, here are some results after one month of my LinkedIn membership for your attention.

Connections: a dozen of direct connections. I was not really active in acquiring them; what I did from the very beginning of my membership was the following:

-I sent invitations to connect on LinkedIn to members who studied at the same university during the five years I did (it's easy to search for your schoolmates at LinkedIn); some got connected, some replied with nostalgia messages but didn't connect, some didn't reply, one replied with a nasty message: "I don't know this person". On LinkedIn you have 3,000 invitations to send out for free, seems a lot for the beginning, but if you get 5 "I don't know this person" messages, the LinkedIn admin will block your membership and you are out. This way LinkedIn fights spamming, so you'd better behave ;-)

-I sent invitations to some friends who were not members but could be interested to join LinkedIn as I thought. Some joined and automatically became my connections, some ignored... Well, it's life, people are busy and overwhelmed with their own stuff...

Also I got connected with some LinkedIn members who contacted me through Questions/Answers.

Now here is the fun part: my second degree connections (they are connections of my direct, first degree connections) are 7,000+ and my third degree connections (they are connections of my second degree connections) are 1,000,000+! So, I got connected with more than one million professionals around the world in a month!

Recommendations: I recommended one person and was recommended by another one.

Expert: yes, I became an Expert of the Questions/Answers section of LinkedIn. I started answering other members questions posted publicly, right from the beginning. It gives me a satisfaction of helping people and also brings new connections and shows my expertise to the community - LinkedIn is all about networking after all! ;-)

When a member asks a question and receives answers, he can rate some answers as "good" and "best". When a person who answered, gets his/her first "best", the LinkedIn automatically puts the person into Experts directory and shows the number of questions this expert answered "this week" and "all time", and also the field of expertise of this expert.

Now I am listed as an Expert under just two sections "Exporting and Importing" and "Internationalization and Localization", both are pretty close to what I am able to do and looking for in terms of new consulting projects: Internet Marketing, Internet Research and English - Russian Translations.

Inquiries about my expertise: yes, I got a couple of inquiries, nothing can be finalized at this time, but the talks are encouraging.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Online Networking

Networking Online vs. Offline...

Let's come to think - what is not online nowadays? Not so many things or maybe even none will come to your mind, right?

Anybody probably has a common opinion that both are equally important - networking online and offline; I won't argue, no way.

It is just my personal preference to network online for two major reasons: first - consulting services that I offer in Internet Research, Internet Marketing and Translation are performed and/or delivered online; and second - the ease and availability of online networking.

I can get online any time of the day or night and start interacting with people around the globe. At the same time I can leave any time, get offline and stop interacting at my own wish without offending anybody. Isn't it really great?

There are people in my LinkedIn network who graduated from Harvard and Yale and I can easily involve them in conversation although I don't go to their alumni meetings.

There are people from so many companies within my fingertip reach in my online network that it's just amazing; I wouldn't be able to meet them in a million years if I relied on seeing them in person at offline networking events.

There are people in my LinkedIn network from America, Europe and Asia; at what kind of offline events could I ever meet them?

So, it's my personal thing - to network online and that's why I started on LinkedIn and I'm very happy that I have found this web-site which is so much my spirit.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Week 3, more LinkedIn Features

There are other features on LinkedIn that I have not experienced yet.

First of all, there are 3 levels of a paid membership with more possibilities than a free option that I have; they are as follows: Personal Plus, Business and Pro. There was a question posted on the topic some days ago: "Should one upgrade to a paid account on LinkedIn and why?" Opinions were divided approximately 50:50… Those who use LinkedIn for business purpose are in favor of upgrading. I feel that I have not used all the free possibilities to the fullest yet, so for the time being I’ll stay with the free membership.

There is Service Providers Directory here on LinkedIn; I still have to find out how to get into it with my services in Internet Research, Internet Marketing and English – Russian translations. My major goal of joining LinkedIn is to find new consulting projects in my area of expertise through networking online. I am going to write more on networking online and offline here.

There is a moderated LinkedIn Blog where everyone can post or comment upon approval.

There are LinkedIn Groups; you can join an existing group or start a new one.

Lots of things to explore…

Internet Marketing Education

I deliver as promised: here is the LinkedIn based analysis of education of people working in Internet Marketing. It is not a scientific research, but rather a little snapshot...

I picked up the first 100 profiles that LinkedIn provided in response to my search of Internet Marketers all over the world and looked at their education.

The results are as follows:

1 - Lawyer
3 - E-Commerce
13 - Education not shown (I assume it is not relevant to the occupation)
14 - Computer and Technical Science
20 - Marketing
21 - Languages, History, Drama, Political and Human Science
28 - Business, Management, Finance, Economics, Real Estate

So, we can see that education of specialists working in Internet Marketing falls into the following categories:

3% - E-Commerce
23% - Marketing, E-Commerce including
51% - Business, Marketing and E-Commerce including
49% - all kind of various folks... who are Internet Marketing self-taught, just like myself...

If only specialists with the E-Commerce degrees worked in Internet Marketing, the Internet would be a very deserted place ;-)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Week 2, LinkedIn Search

There is a keyword search engine built in LinkedIn. You can search people, jobs and answers, with refined search possibilities by industry, location, etc.

The search results are well organized and show the path I can use to connect with people who appeared in my searches.

I have searched for LinkedIn members who consider themselves "Citizens of the World" just as I do. Well, there are about 30 of the like-minded members as it appears... Later I'll try to connect with them of course.

Also I would like to undertake a small scale research: what kind of education do Internet Marketers have? It is relatively easy to do on LinkedIn. I will tell you the results of my findings later.

The reason I am personally interested: I consider myself as self-taught in Internet Research and Marketing - having solid background in science research, taking Internet courses, reading a lot and applying the acquired knowledge I feel quite comfortable in the field. But recently I was asked by a HR person: do you have education in Internet Marketing? Well, I don't... but I also think that others working in Internet Marketing don't have a formal education in it either... We'll see...

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Day 7, I rested

I am staying away from LinkedIn this day, but it is not that easy as it becomes addictive ;-)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Day 6, My LinkedIn Profile

Having played around with most of the LinkedIn functionalities for a while, I am back home - to have a critical look at my rather poor-looking beginner's profile... Well, it definitely would benefit from some beautifying...

Here is the urgent To-Do List on Profile Improvement:

-Detail descriptions of current and past positions held

-Thoughtful summary

-More connections and recommendations

-Additional information: my interests and 3 web-sites

I have decided to link to "My Resume and References", "My Articles: Self-Publishing, etc" and "My Blog: How I started on LinkedIn"; as I am a Google's fan, I have created these several pages with Google Page Creator and Blogger.com, here we are ;-)

My Resume
My References
My Articles: Self-Publishing, etc
How to Build Book web-site
How I started on LinkedIn

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Day 5, LinkedIn Recommendations

There is another interesting feature at LinkedIn called "Recommendations". It works both ways - a member can give and receive recommendations.

If you happily worked with somebody in the past or work now and you see the person is a LinkedIn member, you can invite them into your network and post your recommendation to their profile.

Also you can request to get recommended for your work well done from any member of your network. Actually you will really need recommendations if and when you apply for a job at LinkedIn, as there are messages at the bottom of some job postings: "Applicants with recommendations are preferred. Referrals through network preferred. No third party applications"

As I am interested in finding consulting projects here on LinkedIn I started this process of requesting recommendations. It is not the easiest thing to do as you should collect your memories first, then try to get in touch with people who might recommend you, invite them to join LinkedIn and/or your network and ask for a recommendation... Well, it does not work all the time I can tell you... People are busy and you do not want to be a pain in the neck... So, you wait after sending an e-mail...

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Day 4, Jobs and Hiring on LinkedIn

If you are looking for a professional job, LinkedIn is the best place to be as recruiters, headhunters and hiring managers are plenty on LinkedIn.

As for one, I am self-employed and although I would not reject an interesting and rewarding job, and I am open to relocation as well, but my main interest is in consulting projects, preferably working through the Internet. I am a generalist and performed research and wrote reports on a variety of topics, among doing other things like translations, publishing, Internet marketing, etc., so let’s see…

Can you find a job on LinkedIn? Absolutely! There is a section called "Jobs and Hiring" and some jobs posted are posted exclusively on LinkedIn while others come from many job and companies web-sites in the same search. As always you can search jobs by keywords, locations, industries, functions, etc.

What is important and unique for LinkedIn, when you open a job description there is always a little message comes along that says how many people in your network work at the hiring company and are open to help you get this job! This way you can work your way into the company with the help of insiders, if they are willing to help you with that.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Day 3, LinkedIn Questions and Answers

Now, another very interesting question: "Why and how do people ask questions on LinkedIn?" It is obvious that most of them have a genuine interest in expertise of other members that LinkedIn can provide.

But look at some who are wording their questions in a sophisticated way to get self-promotion, but to avoid to be accused in getting self-promotion that is against the LinkedIn policy.

Some post "$50,000" questions as I call them. Instead of hiring a consultant to help with a project at hands they try to dig into other members expertise so deep and wide that it seems that they expect professionals to do a job for free.

Polling questions are posted every day, and they receive more answers than others. Researching answers is even more exciting than questions.

So, after some short period of reading, I started answering questions. My attitude is simple - I answer when I know the answer. I also reply to some polling questions when I have time and interest.

I started posting answers to questions about publishing and self-publishing, book marketing and promotion, marketing services on the Internet, e-commerce, e-books, building small business websites, search engines optimization, websites promotion, translations and teaching languages, immigration and visas, real estate, etc. They are all in the scope of my expertise and often result from my previous research on a broad variety of topics in business and industries.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Day 2, LinkedIn Invitations

Now, how do you socialize and network? First off, you have possibilities to invite anybody you know from the past or present, to be in your network. They might be already LinkedIn members or not yet. It is your own choice to do that or not, it depends on your networking goals.

I started sending invitations to my classmates (there is a feature for that, classmates come up almost automatically), friends and other nice folks I met in life who might be interested to join LinkedIn and look around... It is amazing to find out how your classmates are spread all over the world nowadays!

While building your own network you can do a lot of things anyway. There is an interesting section of the site called "Answers". Reading it and posting to it you can get in touch with so many interesting people! Anybody can post a question or answer a question there.

Some people post so highly technical questions that an average human being can only understand a question mark there…

Some ask questions that a normal 6th-grader could answer…

And everything in between – most of the questions fall into this category of course.

The "Answers" section is in English, although some folks post something in other Latin alphabet languages, well, good for you, those who can understand :-)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen

Day 1, I joined LinkedIn

One rainy afternoon I was searching the Internet for like-minded folks who do everything Internet: working, researching, reading, entertaining, buying and selling, socializing and networking, etc. As for one I only sleep and eat offline.

Association of Internet Researchers (AIR) came up in my search. As much I hate giving away my addresses including the old spam-dirty Hotmail for any occasion, the temptation was bigger than me and I subscribed.

Pretty soon I discovered that this was an organized international group of nice academic folks who mainly researched behavioral habits of the Internet human beings like me. Well, okay, I truly believe I deserve to be studied at the University level; I have nothing against it, but I wanted more than that – I mean to be a part of something, not just a subject…

One of the AIR posts mentioned LinkedIn.com as one of the best professional networking sites on the Internet. It seemed right for me to join and become a member what I did… and discovered the whole new world! My world!

There are professional people networking from all over the planet of Earth: Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, Arctic and … well, Antarctic seems to be missing… maybe they will join later? Professionals range from Art to High Tech, from a student to a CEO, and everybody in between.

One can join LinkedIn on their own or having received an invitation from a member. The first thing one will be prompted to do is creating a profile of course. The process is completely painless as LinkedIn techies thoughtfully prepared everything for you, you just fill in the fields for your education, companies you work now and worked in the past, maybe your essay, interests and hobbies if you wish (all templates, no work on your side), and you are in business of socializing and networking.

You can easily include three links to your own web-sites in your profile, anything you wish: your company, blog, resume, your dog’s birthday party site, etc. As LinkedIn is high in search engines (Alexa’s #182), linking from it will help your sites SE positioning by the way.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/olgakellen