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Linkedin.com - Thumbs UP!

Linkedin.com is an online networking service that connects business professionals with current and past colleagues. These could be friends, co-workers or consultants that you have worked with. Part of their service allows you to find people as well as for people to find you. Your network is not just your immediate contacts but also their contacts as well so you can search amongst second and 3rd level contacts to find people in specific industries or at specific companies.

Why is this useful? In business you are only as good as your network. At your current job your network consists of the people that you interact with to get your job done. The bigger your network the better you are at your job. Let's say you want to change jobs or learn about what others in your industry are doing on a particular subject; this requires a broader and much larger network then the people that you see everyday in your office building.

I have been a member for the last 3 years and the network has grown to over 9 million members and continues to grow. I find many people that I work with at my current job, people at companies that I have done business with and people I worked with at past jobs in similar industries.

Linkedin.com is a useful resource, but like all resources it's only as good as how much information and effort you put in to it. You need to actively update your profile and seek out people to be in your network. I highly recommend it for independent business owners and contractors who are always looking for that next potential customer as well as those that are trying to keep in touch with people in their industry.

New to linkedin.com is a question and answer area where you can pose questions to your network. This gives linkedin.com a sense of community. A built in chat or forum area would also help the community feel of the website.

The only draw back is that not everyone you know is in the network, and its only as good as those that use its services such as jobs and answers to questions. As the network grows and the users use the services it will become more valuable.

Learn more about this author, Audrey Kerchner.
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