How (Not) to Get Banned from LinkedIn

For anyone who's been following Marc Freedman's roller-coaster with LinkedIn's management, he's just published his guide for Active Networkers.

As a guide on what NOT to do (unless you want to get banned) it pretty much covers everything and is worthwhile reading for anyone looking to grow their LinkedIn network by connecting with strangers (which, of course, you're not supposed to do)

For those who don't know, Marc runs the DallasBlue network and is the self-proclaimed LinkInDaddy.

Marc's had a few run-ins with the LinkedIn Privacy Police recently but he's now fully restored back to his former glory with 16,000+ connections.

To me, the lesson to learn here is that whilst people may want to connect with you to get greater visibility and access to the LinkedIn network, it doesn't mean that they want you to send them endless profile updates or put them on a mailing list.

Technorati Tags - Online Networking, LinkedIn

Great New Look At Wireless World

Congratulations to the guys at the Wireless World Forum for the great new look of their site.

The Wireless World Forum is a niche online networking platform with a focus on the Wireless and Mobile Sector. They have around 7000 members globally, in all areas of the sector. There's a large number of CEO's and Executives from all the main players.

In particular, it has a great knowledge base with members publishing Journals (or blogs) on what's happening within the industry.

If you're in the industry and want to check it out, contact me and I'd be happy to invite you to join.

Technorati Tags - Online Networking, Blogging, Wireless World, Mobile

Not So Trusted Anymore

Is this the beginning of the end for Ecademy's Trusted Networks?

These trusted networks are branded versions of Ecademy for networking groups with their own identities and members, such BNI and BRE.

I noticed today that, where the Trusted Networks used to be listed clearly on the front page, they've now assumed a background position behind a tab. Is this the beginning of the end? Just the natural evolution of online networking platforms?

Or maybe Ecademy just decided to open up that prime front-page real-estate to more sponsors? Seeing T-Mobile's ad in the spot where the trusted networks used to sit kinda clears that one up, I think.

Does anyone actually use the Regus TN anyway?

Technorati Tags - Online Networking, Blogging, Ecademy

My Unofficial A-Z of Online Networking

A - AlwaysOn: bloggers paradise for west-coast geeks. Not the place to post random musings of a life-coach.

B - Blackstars: got four grand to spare? Ecademy's lifetime membership, you get...a black star on your profile, and I think Thomas Power sends his personal thanks ;-)

C - Connections: secretly, it's what all these platforms are about.

D - DallasBlue: networking group on LinkedIn run by Marc Feedman, Who's Your LinkedIn Daddy, Again? ;-)

E - Ecademy: the most open platform for online business networking. Claim your space amongst the world's freelancers & self-employed. MySpace for the over 30's.

F - Frappr: put all your connections on a big map. Just don't ask me why.

G - Go Big Network: want to raise some cash for your next big adventure. Pop over to Go Big and rub shoulders with VC's, Angel Investors and fellow entrepreneurs.

H - Lars Hinrichs: CEO of openBC.

I - Invitations: every platform grows by getting us to invite people to "join our network". That's why they all make it so easy to trawl your outlook contacts and send out invitations. The best example of this was Doostang, which cleverly piggy-backed on LinkedIn 's success by allowing you to retrieve all your LinkedIn contacts and send an invitation to them. The resulting invitation avalanche was so successful it broke the boys' server :-)

K - Konstantin Guericke: LinkedIn's co-founder and the offical guy who dukes it out on many a Yahoo!Group. Always worth keeping an eye on to see what's in the pipeline for LinkedIn

L - LinkedIn - what more can I say? 5,500,000+ people can't be wrong.

M - MyLinkedinPowerForum: The oldest, largest and wildest of the LinkedIn Yahoo!Groups.

N - Networks: Duh?

O - open BLOG: musings of team behind Xing.

P - Profile: the heart of every online network. Vary from Ecademy's HTML happy, free expression to LinkedIn's CV inspired feel. Contrast my profiles on Ecademy and LinkedIn to see what I mean.

Q - Quality vs Quantity: that old chestnut? Get over it.

R - Ryze: MLM anyone?

S - Soflow: seems to be still battling it out to get that elusive critical mass. Attracts the media & marketing crowd.

T - TopLinked: The unoffical LinkedIn chart. So, where am I nowadays?

U - Über-connector: a super-connector on openBC

V - Virtual Handshake - get the book or read their blog. Has a useful directory of Online Network/Social Software companies.

W - Web Profiles: get googled and found on Ecademy, openBC, LinkedIn and Soflow.

X - Xing: openBC was relaunched as "Xing" in Nov 2006. Shortly after, they successfully completed an IPO in Frankfurt last week, valuing the company at 157M Euros. Largely a cosmetic overhaul at the time, but a very nice one (and no mean feat for a live site with 1M+ users).

Y - Yahoo!Groups: Want to get the gossip, find out about future upgrades or maybe you're just a rebel at heart? Sign up to MyLinkedInPowerForum, LinkedInnovators, or LinkedIn Lions

Z - Zaibatsu: I didn't know what it was either until I joined AlwaysOn.

Technorati Tags - Online Networking, Blogging, LinkedIn, Ecademy, openBC

Different Tools For Different Jobs

Of Hammers, Wrenches, and Screwdrivers is a great article by David Teten and Scott Allen.

David & Scott offer a simple explanation of the differences between blogging, online networking and LinkedIn. Their views certainly echo my own from previous posts; it's a very balanced and pragmatic article.

In particular, I agree that LinkedIn has created an attractive platform for senior executives because it allows them to "leverage and be of service to their existing contacts with a minimal time investment and not a lot of unfocused interaction." Spot on.

David & Scott are co-authors of The Virtual Handshake which, for a limited time, you can download in PDF for free.


Technorati Tags - Online Networking, Blogging, LinkedIn

Sexy New LinkedIn Buttons

LinkedIn have released some new buttons to add to your blog or website. You can get yours here:
https://www.linkedin.com/profile?promoteProfile=

Here's some samples:









Vincent Wright gave me the heads up on that one. Vincent's also just started a MyLinkedInProfile group on Yahoo!

How many LinkedIn Yahoo Groups is that now? I've lost count :-)

Technorati Tags - Online Networking, LinkedIn, MyLinkedinProfile

Is LinkedIn Web 2.0?

I've noticed some debate on the usual LinkedIn Yahoo! Groups following the recent interview by Konstantin Guericke: LinkedIn : Web 2.0 moves beyond the "“read"” paradigm of Web 1.0 (see my previous post on this)

The question is, can LinkedIn be considered a Web 2.0 platform?

If we take Wikipedia's definition of Web 2.0 (and why not, as surely they're at the front of it) then I think LinkedIn, in its present form, only just make the grade at a stretch.

If "collaborate, and share information online" is at the heart of Web 2.0, then, sure, the platform and user experience is driven by how people interact with each other (just the same as any online networking platform). But, in terms of it's users shaping the experience in a more free-form way like MySpace, it's got some way to go.

Konstantin said in the interview, "Web 2.0 moves beyond the 'read' paradigm of Web 1.0 and to a more interactive Web where the overall experience is not controlled by a single Web site, but by the interplay of data sources from various Web sites and especially from data generated by users rather than by companies, such as information publishers."

Where's the "interplay of data sources from various Web sites" on LinkedIn. Have I missed something?

To me, I think that Ecademy remains the online business network platform that's closest to true Web 2.0. It incorporates blogs, tags, full HTML profiles, full access to non members through Google, etc.

Of course, the concept of Web 2.0 can mean that the company that started the platform loses control as it's users shape it in the direction that they want.

Based on past experience, that really doesn't sound like something LinkedIn will want. And of course, it doesn't mean it's something that the vast majority of it's users want either.

Is LinkedIn Web 2.0? In my opinion, not yet. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Technorati Tags - Online Networking, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Web 2.0