Linked Intelligence

One of the most common questions I get asked is, "How can LinkedIn help me sell more?" LinkedIn isn’t just for job seekers and recruiters. And while trying to use LinkedIn as a cold-calling tool may not be very effective, there are several ways that you can use LinkedIn to support the entire sales [...]

Darlene McDaniel over at Interview Chatter has created a great 10-part series on LinkedIn, as seen through the eyes of a new user:

What is LinkedIn? - Darlene starts with a brand new LinkedIn account, sets up a profile and connects to some people that are already on the system, all in about 90 minutes.
One [...]

You’ve probably heard the old saying, "Dig your well before your thirsty." It was the title of a great book on networking by Harvey Mackay.
I’ve found, though, that many people use it to justify the idea of "networking just to network". They network without any specific goal in mind, other than to grow their [...]

LinkedIn doesn’t record age and gender information in their profiles, and if they’ve ever done a demographic survey that included it, they’ve been tight-lipped about publishing that information. But some new social networking user statistics from reputation service Rapleaf revealed some rather startling results.

Last week TechCrunch reported a rumor that LinkedIn was in buyout talks with media conglomerate News Corp, owners of, among other things, MySpace. The next day, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman responded with a "no comment", but as TechCrunch writer Mike Butcher pointed out:
But I’ll leave you with this thought: companies entertaining a sale, or [...]

One of my friends, an author, speaker and global business consultant, wrote to me:
Dear Scott :
You are the expert: I would like to ask you how I can expand my connections up into the 500 category. I have just about tapped out the people I know (so many of them are either not on [...]

The Danger of LinkedIn Addiction
Ray van den Bel, who I applaud for trying to reclaim the term “open networker” from meaning, “I’ll link with anybody,” tells of his experience shifting from a quantity focus on LinkedIn to a quality focus. This is a must-read.
There are quite a number of really addicted networkers now who are [...]

Ben Jankowski, writing on MLPF, says:
The problem is that the explanation of the violation of spamming is so vague, that a person that sends a particular Invitation to a user, one user could interpret that as mere networking, while another user may consider it spamming.
Ben is spot on with this. This is why I [...]

In case you’ve been wondering how to get some cool LinkedIn swag, the LinkedIn Store is now open for business. In it you can find:

T-shirts
Backpacks
Gel pens
Microfleece vests and jackets
Caps

Not a bad start. The prices are fine, and I really like the pens.
But isn’t LinkedIn a business network? Are you going to wear a T-shirt [...]

In a recent post on MLPF, new author Teresa Holler asked the question:
How Can I Use My Network to Promote my Book?
Hello everyone,
I am relatively new to Linked In and to using groups. I am getting ready to launch “Holler for Your Health: Be the Key to a Healthy Family” and would LOVE to [...]