Posts filed under ‘LinkedIn’
Why Stalk on Facebook When You Can Use LinkedIn?
If you haven’t used Facebook to stalk your friends/acquaintances/exes at some point, then I don’t know what you’re doing reading this blog. In my opinion, that’s one of the premises that social media is based on: wanting to know what everyone else is up to. For many, their Internet-binocular of choice is Facebook.
Do you want to know if the popular girls from high school got fat? Check Facebook. Is your ex-boyfriend seeing someone new? Check Facebook. Is there a party happening this weekend that you haven’t been invited to? Sigh. Check Facebook.
For me however, these days, I’m finding LinkedIn to be almost equally-useful in the spy game. It tells me who’s working where, who’s been laid off, and best of all, if used correctly, it can tell me who’s interested in stalking me. My life is now complete.
Explanation: the right-hand side of your LinkedIn homepage has a section called, “Who’s viewed my profile?”. It will tell you how many people have viewed your profile in the last week or month. And then if you click on it, it’ll give you an idea of which five people most recently looked at your profile. I say “give you an idea”, because it doesn’t come right out and list five names.
Instead, it will tell you the industries and cities of the five people who looked at your profile and link to the search results. People who you’re connected on LinkedIn will show up at the top of your list. So although 30 psych grad students from D.C. may pop up, chances are that it’s that acquaintance listed at the top who was curious about you and took a peek.
The system isn’t foolproof. Sometimes you may have random people that you don’t know looking at your profile. Other times, you may have multiple friends in certain cities. Still, to my knowledge, neither Facebook or Twitter offers this service.
You know why? Because they know their audience. I guess that at the end of the day, most people just want to stalk in peace and anonymity. But if you’re okay with being looked at right back, try it on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn vs. Facebook for Professional Networking
My school paper (although now I suppose it’s my alma mater paper, gah) interviewed me and a friend for a story on the differences between LinkedIn and Facebook for professional networking. You can read the full article here – for some reason they claim that I’ve developed a speciality in social media. This would imply that I know what I’m talking about, which means that they obviously do not read this blog.
But in all seriousness, there is one point that I didn’t mention. On the whole, I think that LinkedIn is better suited than Facebook for professional networking. BUT, a lot of people who got Facebook post-college got it for exactly that reason: not to post salacious 21st birthday pictures or funny YouTube videos on a friend’s wall, but to professionally network with their colleagues and peers.
My generation (or at least the super cautious ones like myself) will most likely avoid networking via Facebook, because we’ve set up about 30 million different privacy blockers on our profile when it comes to our bosses. I wouldn’t have it any other way; I enjoy far too much having the occasional party pictures up there (as long as only certain friends can see them, of course). But sometimes I do wonder if this means that I’m missing out on opportunities to connect with other professionals.
What do you think?
Interview with Social Media Expert, Don Martelli, Part II
On Wednesday, I posted Part I of my interview with social media expert, Don Martelli. From what I’ve heard (via blog comments and g-chat messages), you seem to really be enjoying Don’s commentary on Web 2.0. TRAITORS. If you like him so much, why don’t you just go read HIS blog then?
Well, in all honesty, you probably should. He blogs both at The Big Guy and The PR Finish Line. And here’s Part II of the interview.
On the mistakes note, what do you think of Facebook friending your boss – yes or no?
I have a personal rule that I follow that seems to work. I connect with just about everyone I know in some way shape or form on all social media platforms. So yes, your boss would be one of those relationships. The way I see it is that relationships come in three levels.
- First, your very close and trusted friends and family – those folks that you would do anything for. Those folks you want to talk to all the time and those that you want to know what’s happening in their lives.
- Then there’s a second ring of relationships that consist of friends, co-workers and maybe even relatives that you want to keep in touch with but aren’t necessarily interested in everything they have to say.
- Finally, there’s a group of people you work with or are friends with or are associated with that you want to keep tabs on and just be connected to for the sheer reason is that you might need their services and/or opinion at some point in time.
Having a strong network of relationships can pay dividends professionally (looking for a job) and personally (need a plummer). So long story short and as the saying goes, never burn a bridge.
If you had to choose one underrated social media tool or application, what would it be?
I would probably have to say LinkedIn. The service is great and it allows you to connect with a variety of professionals from around the world. I feel that it’s under utilized because of the explosion in popularity of Facebook. Also, the iPhone-enabled website site works smoothly and has basically the full functionality of the regular website.
My point here is that LinkedIn is a service that can provide professional results for those looking to sell their services, find a job, get feedback on products or get a sense of what’s happening in various market sectors. I would say that LinkedIn is the more professional version of Facebook.
What do you see as the future for social media? Do you think that one day astronauts will be tweeting from space? Because that would be awesome.
Not sure about tweeting from space – though I bet it’ll happen at some point. Social media will continue to grow at a pace faster than the general public can keep up with it. Journalists and PR professionals will continue to drive the conversation in the space because they are typically early adopters and the ones currently using it to improve how they do their jobs. The business world will continue to plug in and out of social media where appropriate.
However, the space is really owned by the individual. We, collectively as consumers, will continue to drive the conversation on various levels and demand that companies and organizations listen to our point of view. As a result, the playing field is leveling out. No longer is a blogger just some crazy nut job with an off-beat opinion. Bloggers are targeted as heavily, if not more so, than traditional media by PR people.
So while the future of social media is pretty much the wild wild west, it has impacted the way PR’s and Journo’s interact and “do business.” It has changed the way companies and organizations interact with consumers. It has changed the way consumers interact with brands. Finally, it has changed the way the world communicates. That process will be refined over the next few years with mobile and video leading the way.
Thank you again, Don, for answering all of my questions!
Tip of the Day Tuesdays: Your LinkedIn Tagline
On Tip of the Day Tuesdays, Social Media Novice shares with you a new nugget of valuable Web 2.0 info that she’s learned. If it seems kind of obvious to you…go read a better blog.
Your tagline is the first thing that prospective employers read when they’re looking at your LinkedIn profile. So even though you may think that it’s unimportant when compared to things like your summary and work experience, just remember that first impressions stick. They stick like superglue.
For instance, here’s Social Media Novice’s tagline:
Social Media Novice is awesome at everything she does. Don’t pity her with your pathetic job offers.
Note: to any prospective employers out there, forget that last part. Please pity me!
The point is that you should view your tagline as an opportunity to explain why you’re fantastic in one sentence. Be confident. Be genuine. And if you’re a student, it’s better to talk about the career you want instead of your part-time gig at the library.
For example, here is my actual LinkedIn tagline:
Tufts University senior with experience in public relations & marketing communications.
It ain’t perfect, but at least it’s better than any of the following:
I’m unemployed and loving it.
My major in college was bullshit.
I’m on food stamps.
Nobody likes me.
That’s right – nobody likes a whiner.
LinkedIn Recommendations
Today I got my first recommendation on LinkedIn! It reads something like this:
“Social Media Novice is the most awesome social media expert who has ever lived. She is a marketer extraordinaire and should be making nothing less than $100k a year, entry level. Also, since her last dental cleaning, her teeth have been looking fantastic.”
I may be exaggerating/bullshitting a little bit. But not about my teeth! They’ve never looked whiter.
In any case, as I’ve said before, creating a LinkedIn profile is a great way to contribute to your online identity, your own personal brand, if you will. And if you have recommendations on there, that means that when prospective employers / universities / lovers Google you, they’ll get to see people singing your praises. It can only help.
Some other thoughts:
- I really like that LinkedIn recommendations only need to be a few lines long. It makes me feel more comfortable in asking people for them, because I’m not petitioning someone to write me a full page love letter.
- The brevity also makes the turnaround time a lot quicker. I emailed my marketing professor to ask for a LinkedIn recommendation on Thursday night/Friday morning and got it on Saturday night.
- I didn’t ask my professor for the recommendation via LinkedIn. You have the option of doing so – LinkedIn will even give you a standard message that you can use, if you want. Here it is below:
Subject line: Can you endorse me?
Message: I’m sending this to ask you for a brief recommendation of my work that I can include in my LinkedIn profile. If you have any questions, let me know.
Thanks in advance for helping me out.
Insert your name here.
I opted to go the email route instead, because stock message aside, I felt like it gave it a more personal touch. I also think that a lot of people don’t really pay attention to their LinkedIn, and less so to any direct messages that they may receive from it.
Plus, if the person in question actually knows you well enough to merit a recommendation, they should know your email address (with the possible exception of people that you haven’t talked to in years). All in all, I think that the use of email as opposed to a LinkedIn message had a bigger chance of receiving a quick reply.
Bottom line: right now, it’s one down, two to go. I’m totally doing better on this than I would with real New Year’s resolutions.
Social Media Resolutions for 2009
Lately, I’ve been reading up on social media resolutions for 2009. I decided to make a list of my own, because let’s face it, Social Media Novice will probably never actually hit the gym or start budgeting her drinking money. Ergo, real resolutions would probably just lead to disappointment. Which would lead to more drinking. It’s a vicious cycle.
So in no particular order, here are Social Media Novice’s 2009 Social Media Resolutions:
Tweet-ups are social meet-up events for Twitter users. I don’t know if they happen everwhere, but it looks like they definitely happen in big cities. It sounds like a good opportunity to increase my number of Twitter followers. Also, if I play my cards right, I might be able to coax out some of these people’s secrets to social media success (i.e. who I should pay off in exchange for some press). Worst case scenario: it’s awkward and boring. But still something to Tweet home about.
They’re short and sweet, but they make you look good. One or two is probably fine for a college senior like myself, but Social Media Novice is nothing if not ambitious and shameless. It’s a tough economy out there. I need to look like I’m competent.
This sort of goes along with yesterday’s post. But it’s not just about making myself more Google-friendly. I’d like to learn how to establish relationships with bloggers and reporters. It’s a must for any aspiring marketing or public relations professional - it serves to more effectively promote your client and/or firm via Web 2.0. What makes this tricky is that it can’t just all be about self-promotion. No one’s going to pay any attention to me if I just write stuff like, “Social Media Novice Rulez! Read my blog!” I have to display actual interest.
I haven’t really done that yet, because I want to have a solid number of posts up first. But once I’ve reached 20-25 posts, I’ll be telling everyone and their mother about this thing via Facebook, Twitter, carrier pigeons, etc. I just want this blog to look legit before I really put it out there.
This is better than real blogs, how?
The Real Purpose of LinkedIn
The supposed purpose of LinkedIn is to allow you to find past and present colleagues and classmates quickly. By keeping in touch or reconnecting with these people, you can discover inside connections when you’re looking for a new job or business opportunity.
If however, you are an eager but naive social media novice like moi, you will immediately discover three other things about this site.
You are now INFERIOR to other people.
It’s like that time you logged onto Facebook and saw pictures of so-and-so’s spring break Greek Isle vacation. Not all of us have that kind of cash. I myself, have spent a spring break or two watching Court TV with my grandma.
Well, now it’s not just personal, it’s professional. Somehow, while you weren’t watching, the entire world has managed to get on LinkedIn and not only do they appear to have had three times as many internships as you did, they also have tons and tons of LinkedIn “Connections”. You certainly can’t “connect” with them now. It’s too embarrassing.
You are now SUPERIOR to other people.
Your LinkedIn profile may still be incomplete (it’s hard to find a good headshot of yourself when many of your Facebook pictures involve alcohol consumption of some kind) but at least it’s out there. You’re on LinkedIn. But some of your old acquaintances from high school don’t have profiles at all. Obviously they must be losers! Losers who have failed to harness the power of social media. They, and all of their future children, are doomed to lead penniless lives.
At least now there’s a Google entry that you don’t have to be ashamed of.
I have a pretty unique last name, so if you Google my full name in quotes, there’s only a handful of entries that come up. Unfortunately, these include the following:
- My high school boyfriend’s father posted on some church message board about how his son had plans to get with me.
- Being quoted in my university’s student newspaper in an article about how recitations suck.
- A staff bio for my university’s humor magazine, where I discuss my joy at “hurting people with words”.
What you can ascertain from these is that I am easy, whiny, and violent. Whether or not that’s true, at least with a LinkedIn profile, when prospective employers Google me, they can find one entry that shows I give a shit about my career. And you know what? That’s actually pretty good.
The Interview
In September, I had a phone interview with a company that offerred a two-year marketing rotational program. Given that I’m a senior in college, it was a pretty big deal (at least to me). It started out with basic get-to-know-your-resume questions and then segued into this:
Interviewer: So, do you use Social Media a lot?
Me: Um, well I use Facebook a lot! And I’m thinking of getting a LinkedIn!
Silence.
It went downhill from there.
Ever since then, I’ve made a concerted effort to get involved with Web 2.0. I put a profile on LinkedIn and photos on Flickr. I finally got a Twitter a few days ago. But to be honest, I still don’t really feel like I know much at all. Just looking at Technorati makes my head hurt.
But I figure that I can’t be the only one confused. So this blog is my way of chronicling (and ergo forcing) my attempts to try to figure out the world of Social Media. And maybe if you’re like me, it can be helpful to you too.
