[Cross-posted] On the MyLinkedinPowerForum Facebook group, I responded to a thread about LinkedIn and how it affects one’s bottom line. But to get there, I did take a tangent and examined how Facebook might play a part in networking. This post is adapted from that.
   Facebook gives one greater insight into a person. LinkedIn does not really reflect the roundedness of an individual, and business connections are best formed with people with whom you have some non-business commonality.
   People are almost forced to become more human in Facebook if they frequent it. They personalize a page, they put up statuses, they join groups. On LinkedIn, it’s easy to put up a résumé and the only thing that might indicate the quality of a person is his or her amount of endorsements. There are, I am saddened to say, a lot of well meaning, but perhaps big-mouthed people on LinkedIn, who give the impression of being able to do a lot, but cannot deliver. There are also those who actually can deliver, but have very limited time. Both these categories are not the majority, but they are there—and can make LinkedIn less powerful than it should be.
   Facebook at least shows that if you go to someone with an idea, whether they will grab it by the horns or not. You will be able to refine a pitch a bit better, for example.
   LinkedIn has not yet, to my recollection, helped my bottom line, though I have found some great people with whom I am negotiating a few things. It may help my future bottom line. But when I really think about it, those ‘great people’ I mentioned came from one of the LinkedIn groups at Yahoo!, including Vincent’s—which furthers my point that LinkedIn in isolation is not that effective. These negotiations only came about because the groups gave us an added dimension.
   But on the whole, it is a good store for a résumé but, in 2007 and age of social networking, it needs to be complemented by other active methods. Posted by Jack Yan, 10:42  permalink

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