[Windwash]

How does this work?

My sheetrock guy sent me (or LI did) an invitation for LI. I filled out the form and bingo, this list of people that I know shows up on the screen.

How did they know I knew them? I assume they somehow scanned my emails as some are customers I haven't talked to in a couple years and some are friends that I contact once or twice a year by email or text.

 

[Pearce Services]

It is likely that the names that came up as people you may know, searched linkedin for you in the past.

 

[Jaws]

I dont connect with people I dont know.

 

[Kent Whitten]

How did they know I knew them?

It's the NSA...or you play lots of WoW on unsecured servers with undercover CIA agents.

 

[JR Shepstone]

I just signed up for LI a couple weeks ago.

It seems like the Facebook of the corporate world.

When you sign up it asks to check your contacts through Google or your phone. It then compares those email addresses to ones they have. So if you emailed someone 10 years ago and still have their address in your contacts, it will suggest them as someone you know.

Same thing if you signed up on your phone, it'll match phone numbers.

 

[Windwash]

I just signed up for LI a couple weeks ago.

It seems like the Facebook of the corporate world.

When you sign up it asks to check your contacts through Google or your phone. It then compares those email addresses to ones they have. So if you emailed someone 10 years ago and still have their address in your contacts, it will suggest them as someone you know.

Same thing if you signed up on your phone, it'll match phone numbers.

I filled in my name, email and my requested password and there was no asking to check anything.

 

[Windwash]

I dont connect with people I dont know.

I don't even know how to connect. Out of 15 people that popped up, I'll bet I haven't talked to half of them in 2 years or more and one of them is a 74 year old woman whom I'm positive has never heard of LI.

 

[Jaws]

I have over 500 connections.

I get invitations daily, most of which I dont know. I wont connect with those I dont know. Might end up connected to hacks and paper boys.

 

[JR Shepstone]

I filled in my name, email and my requested password and there was no asking to check anything.

Then they backdoored ya.

The least they could have done was let you know.

 

[Calidecks]

It's not a bad thing I am linked with a large group of professionals. It's a a way to network with other professionals. As a matter of fact my customers give reviews of me and recommend my company through LinkedIn. Here's how I think it works. One of my customers or relatives have me in their address book. They link everyone in their address book to LinkedIn. Well there is people you know that are in others address book.

Say your mother signs up and links her address book, well all of a sudden you get an invite from an aunt you never communicated with and you are wondering, how did she know to ask me to link? Well that's because everyone in your moms address book automatically asks you. I hope that makes sense. I could be wrong about this, if anyone knows otherwise please correct the record.

 

[SLSTech]

Automatic invites - no it doesn't go out to everyone but once connections are made to others, their connections now become visible to everyone connected & you can invite them to connect

 

[greg24k]

I have over 500 connections.

I get invitations daily, most of which I dont know. I wont connect with those I dont know. Might end up connected to hacks and paper boys.

Not to mention some give you endorsements of s^*t you don't do :laughing:

 

[ProSweep]

LinkedIn does a sort of Spiderweb approach to "who you might know". They look at factors such as your email address, who invited you, school, and where you work and from there look at others who have similar connections or have referenced things like having done business with your company.

LinkedIn is a lovely Professional network - it's the perfect social media for most B2B businesses to be on. Additionally, it's a great place to recruit new employees/management from. You should have your business listed on LinkedIn.

 

[Watson + Nowlin]

Another big element of how Linkedin can find who you know with you denying access to contacts: The people who know you allowed LinkedIn to access their contacts. They now know that your friend Bob Jones emails you and is connected on Facebook. Or that your old customer Mr. Smith has emailed you.

This really helps flesh out who knows who for social platforms.

 

[cbscreative]

I don't even know how to connect. Out of 15 people that popped up, I'll bet I haven't talked to half of them in 2 years or more and one of them is a 74 year old woman whom I'm positive has never heard of LI.

Actually that 74 year old woman is on LI if she is listed. I've never investigated exactly how they do it, but it is borderline creepy how LI seems to know things.

 

[MOTB]

Treat LinkedIn differently - its a goldmine

My biggest suggestion is to treat LinkedIn like a potential goldmine of opportunity, and be much more professional than how open you may express yourself here. This forum is many times informative, but also inadvertingly goes off topic when others start to go at it with one another - and that definetely prohibits newbies from contributing for fear of getting into online bar room brawls (wording taken from a customer of mine who I couldn't get to join for this reason). I tend to be more thick skinned but others are not.

I was an early adopter of LinkedIn and used many of the founding principles when I was building my previous company that grew to connect (just like LinkedIn) to have tens of thousands of users. I now use many of those marketing topics when educating contractors how to market themselves and their websites to potential customers. Keep in mind the vast majority of contractors are just getting their websites started, and just beginning to understand the importance of content and optimizing for search. BUT IT IS RATHER EASY if you just take it step by step in a methodical manner.

So here is a quick summary for anyone to understand at the basic level and hopefully it helps get started with LinkedIn.

1) Don't do anything on LinkedIn without first having your business profile filled out to the best you can - and ensure it links to your company website address. You want to be prepared for a smart networking person to be able to see who you are and quickly check out your business by clicking on a link.
2) Only connect with people and companies that you can vouche for, and you can see yourself honestly doing something for them, or possibly they doing something for you. You do not need to connect just to connect with people and have a massive number of connections. Stay focused on having a more quality oriented network rather than looking to just follow hundreds of people who will never reply to you after you let them connect to your connections.
3) Participate in forums with professionalism - or stay quiet. I realize that may be hard for some, but the last thing you want to do is have people look at you and never want to do business with you. Smart people tend to travel in groups and there are many ways for smart people to help one another. Treat everything you do on LinkedIn like a professional resume and you would be surprised how you can ask people for connections and leads if done the right way - but before diving into those details - you need to have a good reputation across the board. Don't let sarcasm or endless going back and forth be part of your presence on LinkedIn or it will backfire on growing your professional reputation.

Hope this helps start of 2014 for you to build more opportunities.
Brian

 

[billgl]

I spent a few weeks on linkedin just to see what it was about. It could be of good use, but i think it requires lots of time and patience, which most of us dont have for the online world..

 

[SmallTownGuy]

Haven't joined & should/will. Was sent an invite via a contact I had made regarding something in the building business. If I stated persons name, everyone here would know who it is.

Point is, there are a large number of well-respected folks on LinkedIn who have more to offer, than gain, methinks.

Like anything, it has to be what suits you, and if so, are you willing to make the investment in time required to generate a benefit?

I know that I'll likely never use Facebook personally (we do for our retail store), but LinkedIn - that could prove useful.

Tis wise to be wary of how they harvested your info - we ALL take that too much for granted.

 

[Mtgroup]

Linkedin has his pros and cons...
But if you use wisely you can get great joint ventures from
There...

Take your time with it and learn the Platform well..