What threats does LinkedIn pose, and what opportunities would we look at – if we weren’t LinkedIn Insiders?
That’s today’s topic as I step aside for this guest post.
Brenda approached me a while back and asked if I would consider a guest. I agreed, and you’re now the beneficiary of her advice.
Not a LinkedIn expert
First things first – I’m not going to tell you that Brenda is an expert with LinkedIn – but that’s ok. She’s pulled out three aspects of LinkedIn to comment on and I was happy to see what she chose.
Without further bits…
LinkedIn News – Don’t Leave Home Without It!
LinkedIn slants social networking more towards business connections than personal ones. It may not have as many users as Facebook or Twitter, but it certainly is more substantial and useful when it comes to finding and maintaining business connections and relationships. And it’s been around for a while now, and in a rapidly changing online world, seven years is practically an aging geriatric.
But in spite of the fierce competition, it’s still going strong and is still the first choice of people who are looking to enhance their professional profile and boost their business. So if you’re a LinkedIn fan, you must keep up with all the news related to this innovative business networking tool:
- Be careful of scams: The year 2010 has been marked as the year when con-men will try to steal your money and your identity. Taking advantage of the fact that most users of the Internet have a profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, and/or Twitter, these are the sites that they’ll target. So if you want to stay safe, don’t accept people you don’t know when they ask to connect, and even if they happen to be your friends’ connections, check with your friends to ensure that they know them personally or professionally before you accept their request. Also, since most hackers target Windows XP and Vista, it’s time to upgrade to the relatively safer Windows 7 if you use Microsoft’s OS.
- Be aware of what your online information can reveal: It’s no secret now that employers look up potential employees on Google before they hire them. And while your profile on LinkedIn may not provide them with access to embarrassing photographs or status updates about your life, it does reveal to them the kind of person that you are. Your LinkedIn profile is like an online resume, so if it’s riddled with typos and grammatical errors and not organized well, you’re going to make a bad first impression. So even though you have all the right connections and the best degrees, a moment of sloppiness could become your downfall.
- Use it to your advantage on your iPhone: Now LinkedIn is available as an app on your iPhone, and it’s totally free to download and use. So the next time you want to look up someone and know more about them before you meet them for the first time, all you have to do is call this application on your phone. Also, it’s easier to check your LinkedIn inbox when you’re on the go because it’s now supported by your iPhone.
This guest post is contributed by Brenda Harris, who writes on the topic of online executive mba programs . She can be reached at her email id: brenda.harris91@gmail.com.
Scams, TMI, and iPhone
It’s interesting to me that these three items became the foundation for her post. Clearly they appear to be “new” to the outside, but perhaps less new for us longtime users.
I have not seen much in the way of LinkedIn scams – but agree that they could be out there. This site has mentioned LinkedIn SPAM in the past and it continues to be a very very minor problem.
The opportunity for individuals to place too much information out there has been the key of several posts this year – when will people learn not to put secret or merely confidential information in their profile? (For the record, I did find another report of something like this that I let slide – there’s only so many times we can talk about it)
Having a second look at the iPhone – was something I had not considered, and for that advice alone, this article could be worthwhile to each of you. I checked further and LinkedIn is on version 3.0 of the iPhone software – and you know what that means – yes, they finally have a chance at getting it right!-)
That’s right, software at version 3 (or even better – version 4) is always leaps and bounds better than version 1 or 2. The software has enough behind it that it “deserves” to be re-written, and the company has survived and seen enough about how it is used to finally write it properly. (Now when a company launches software, you have to make sure they don’t release their first software as version 4.0 – and attempt to trick the consumer into believing that three previous versions of the software have been published…)
If you have an iPhone (I do not), you should get this app without delay. Go ahead and try it out, and then let us know what you think of it.
To your continued success,
steve
—
Steven Tylock
http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetylock