If you have had anything to do with the technology industry over the past few years, then I suspect like me, you have accumulated many many LinkedIn invitations. I was speaking with a few business associates recently and they indicated that they were not really sure what value LinkedIn delivered. LinkedIn has provided increasing value for me in business over the past year or so - providing information on people I am planning to meet (and shared connections), or as a potential reference checking tool when recruiting. In short, it has become a very useful research tool.

In early 2007, Guy Kawasaki published a great blog post entitled "Ten Ways To Use LinkedIn" (which has subsequently increased to 13). Two years on, and most of the items on his list are still relevant, some of them more so.

LinkedIn versus Facebook

One of the additional challenges I have faced is the relationship between LinkedIn and other social networking sites such as Facebook. Fundamentally the sites are very different - LinkedIn being built around relationships, and FB being more around communicating with your social network. That said, I do often get FB invitations from work colleagues or associates. I have adopted a fairly simple approach - I use FB for only close personal contacts (friends or family) and I use LinkedIn for everyone else - not to say that some people don't reside in both - but I do want to keep my professional and personal social networks separate. Maintaining a multitude of online presences can become a chore, however I will leave that for another post. 

Has anyone seen any other creative uses of LinkedIn, and are you seeing the value?