I must admit, I have never used Linked In for anything useful. I keep getting e-mail invites to join others in their networks. So far I have joined with many people and am not sure what the end-game is. I have heard of others using such social-networking products to get things accomplished. I have yet to try it.
The question is, I have people I haven’t seen or heard from in years asking me to join. Do I join with as many people as possible? Is the point similar to he who dies with the most toys (contacts in this case) wins?
Part of me wants to keep this a tight knit circle and the other side of me says one day I may need to call upon my network of associates to help the rid the world of hunger or to build an elevator to space (I think I read about this in BusinessWeek.)
If anyone has insight on what the pros and cons are, please let me know.
Thanks
Gary Pick
March 31, 2006 at 12:55 pmThe fact is, social networking is still in early stages of development. Communicating on the Internet, like communicating on the phone or any other channel, is what you make of it.
The basic functionality of social networking is to, simply, provide the basic links to other people with additional features and options to make that a better link than, say, picking up a telephone and just calling the person or sending them an e-mail.
I don’t think that you can say there is an end game. I think the main value is the connections and, hopefully, when you need the connection you will know where to find it.
Other companies, like mine (www.adn1.com) are working on different solutions to the item. Some companies are enormous and some are small and growing. One single company can not provide the perfect solution for everyone, so we are all working to build better networks, one at a time.
If you have any suggestions on how we can improve, please send me your thoughts or feedback.
Gary Pick, Director & CEO
American Digital Networks
http://www.digital50.com/news/digital50.asp
Related Articles
Why Facebook Would Buy Kustomer – the “More Modern Salesforce”
Upsolver gets $13M to Bring Data Lakes to Database Analysts
Zycada Gets $19M to Deliver “Fastest Online Shopping Experience in the World”