LinkedIn is the network that no communicator really seems to love. Complaints about not getting it, and its hard to use interface, or the inability to promote/communicate virally with large groups of people are common. Yet its staying power and growing strength are undeniable.
From left to right: Chris Brogan, Kathryn Jennex, Sarah Merion, and Lewis Howes
Lewis Howes’ short primer, “LinkedWorking” made the communicators’ problem – and the solution – clear to me. Communicators struggle with LinkedIn, but not because it lacks robustness or the viral nature of other networks. There are many people getting dynamic results out of LinkedIn everyday. Instead, it gets back to the old one-way “we’re promoting” mindset versus the two-way nature of conversational media.
At its heart, LinkedIn is made for brass tacks networking. It’s where people meet and greet online, just like they would at a real networking event. It makes sense that some of the bigger successes on LinkedIn have come from recruiters and business developers. They understand how to communicate one-to-one.
Communicators naturally migrate to what is going to get them the biggest reach per touch. They want to broadcast messages rather than have conversations. In many ways, that’s why within our community Twitter has become so hot and LinkedIn has not. If successful at building a following in Twitter, communicators can broadcast messaging and links to thousands with one strategically written 140 character “message.”
If one has a LinkedIn following, that too can occur, but the very architecture of LinkedIn forces a more genuine conversation focusing on both parties. One person or company’s viewpoint has much less sway. You really have to participate on LinkedIn.
That’s why I like Howes’ book. It’s short and sweet, and provides reminders for great networking principles, and how they apply on the social network that more than any forces you to actually talk with other people. What a great way to really dive into LinkedIn.
nice post, geoff! and thanks for pointing me in direction of Linked Working, which I will definitely check out.
I keep trying to get into LinkedIn but it’s so clunky in terms of navigation (and the reward seemingly not very high without serious time investment) that I end up sticking with Twitter, Facebook and my blog. Going to try again now…
I am one of those communicators you mention in this article. I would really like to use LinkedIn to its fullest potential, but don’t have the time to fully invest in dealing with the graphics user interface (GUI) or the lack of User Experience (UX). If LinkedIn was setup more like Facebook I would use it more often. While I haven’t read Lewis’ book I feel in some ways LinkedIn’s TOS is counterproductive to its original idea and intent, which is networking. More specifically online networking and emails. Yes, anything worth doing takes time and involvement, but in the ever evolving social media world everybody is there own CEO and this is why we are our own filters in that sense of traditional gatekeeping.
It is good that they added other ways you might know a person other than their email and in that they have been able to expand their offering, but it still comes back to the layout and navigation for connecting and communicating. I do a better job at it with Twitter. Facebook soon followed suit. LinkedIn could learn a usability and best practices lesson from it and expand their offering even more.
I think the point is that using all three main SM networks make the biggest benefit for the “offline” experience after the initial meeting online.
Great post. I’d never considered the one way vs two way issue when using LinkedIn but it makes perfect sense. I wonder if those that thrive in LinkedIn struggle with Twitter & Facebook etc?
I’ve obviously read Lewis’ book and it is worth getting “LinkedIn”! Clearly a different type of medium to use in social networking but each has it’s own value.
You hit the nail on the head. I’ve been using LinkedIn much longer than Facebook, but I feel more comfortable with Facebook. Probably the instant satisfaction of putting out a thought and immediately getting response. LinkedIn’s version is very clunky. I’ll check out the book.
I can’t even figure out what to do with LinkedIn other than accept people when they ask me to. It just sits there. What are you supposed to do with it? Sometimes it’s good for looking up someone I work with, as I work remote, to see what their background is, or for introducing myself to a remote colleague when I would like them to know more about my background, but in terms of having conversations, how does that work? Not obvious. Like I said, it just seems to sit there. Maybe if I were job searching I’d be working it harder, but at the moment the payoff seems low compared to the effort.
I guess what I’m saying is that this article fails to make the case as to why I *should* be making more of an effort to learn more about LinkedIn…it says there are more untapped capabilities, but it doesn’t give me any sense of what they might be.
Klava: The book gives great case studies as to why. There are many, many business examples of why companies have succeeded out there.
Aside from the obvious “shirt and skirt” nature of LinkedIn, there has not been an app developed that really takes advantage of the (to many) obvious next step – the “wanna meet for coffee and chat” space. For this, myself and so many colleagues find other social network spaces to kick back and just hang out. Like the warning in The WIzard of Oz – LIONS and tigers and Bears do exist in the LinkedIn jungle. Connector beware, we all get duped at least once.
On LinkedIn, to update your status to “Steve is wearing wool sox and being chased by hungry, rabid Timber Wolves” gets not one reply after 2 weeks; Facebook or Twitter – goodness, EMS and newscrews arrived in moments! LOL.
I use them both to generate and mutually develop relationships that have more than one side to them! The cross over is tremendous and has personally been very productive!
Great post. It is true that I like LinkedIn as much as other social media such as facebook & twitter, how I don’t have enough time to be there. I find it twitter is much fast pace and open, you can join the conversation as soon as you are online. It is so much fun and a lots of great information you could get from there. I love twitter.
Thanks and best regards,
Susie
http://www.twitter.com/susiecheng
Great points.
In some ways I really don’t like LinkedIn, exactly because it’s not possible to have a conversation. However, I have had some opportunities come up via LinkedIn that I would otherwise not have had. It’s valuable, but I still struggle with it, exactly because of the reasons mentioned above.
Thanks for laying it out like that. I never really knew what it was that bugged me.
I am also one of those folks who doesn’t particularly like Linked in. For me it isn’t an issue of Linkedin-or-Twitter but rather an issue of Linkedin-or-Facebook.
Just my opinion, but on Linkedin everyone WANTS something from me. There are more people trying to “leverage” and “use” the community than there are people giving back, having a conversation and just participating. Facebook seems to be a better platform (for me at least) when it comes to building community.
You did state this as “At its heart, LinkedIn is made for brass tacks networking. It’s where people meet and greet online, just like they would at a real networking event.” If that is the case it just isn’t for me. Networking for the sake of networking isn’t my thing, online or offline. But I get that it works.
Great post BTW. OK, gotta go check facebook…
In my humble opinion, all three sites mentioned here serve very different purposes.
Facebook for me, is strictly personal.
Twitter for me, seems to be a waste of time. I wonder how many hours Guy Kawasaki (or his team) spends searching the internet for something interesting to share; all….day…..long. Also, with Twitter, it’s a NO NO to promote your business. Hmmmm….that seems counter-productive; but that’s just me.
LinkedIn for me, is a very valuable tool for BUSINESS. I’ve made many contacts on LinkedIn. It’s a great way to let a prospect know who they are talking to, before they talk to you. Because of LinkedIn, I’ve made several appointments which have resulted in closed sales for our company, and I’ve only been using it for about 6 monhts.
Additionally, for my prospects who did not result in a closed sale, I ask to connect with them on LinkedIn for future reference, and almost all have agreed.
I can’t say enough good things about LinkedIn.
Cheers!!