Did you know there is a “Who’s Viewed My Profile” feature on LinkedIn? If you go to your “Home Page” and look on the right side of the page, you will see a box with this title just under the “Advertisement.”
It will read something like this:
Who’s viewed my profile?
Your profile has been viewed by 44 people in the lastday. Yesterday, you appeared in search results 161 times.
These stats by themselves are quite helpful, but you can dive deeper by clicking on any part of the line below the “Who’s viewed my profile?” to see any available details of the people who are looking at your profile.
Now for all of you who are super excited about this, you can only see profiles of people who have it accessible on their profile. By default, all users of LinkedIn are put into this category:
“Only show my anonymous profile characteristics, such as industry and title”
So when you click on the link that pulls you through to the more detailed page, the only names you will see are those LinkedIn users who have gone in and manually changed their settings to read:
“Show my name and headline”
Very few people make this change. I am a proponent for making the change. If you want to change your settings to allow others to see your profile name and headline, click here:
does this "Who’s Viewed My Profile?" work on fb? cuz many people apprently become the member of some group "Who’s Viewed My Profile?"...i dont know whether its some application that tell you who viewed your profile.
^ Pak-One it has a lot of value - beyond just establishing / maintaining a network… I’m on various professional groups that pertain to my areas of expertise where I can chat with people who’re working on different types of projects… get to learn about what’s happening in their firms, what trends, techs are current etc. I can ask questions and request assistance for my own projects too. I used it for multiple purposes:
Does LinkedIn have professional networking value? Or is this a FB equivalent?
Yes, I network - but I do it old school, pick up the phone or meet in person.
Pak-one "old school" network can't find a replacement. All these gadgets and service just enhance those connections. One thing I use it for is if I'm going to meet a new person at a new company I do a quick search and there's a chance I might know someone who knows someone etc. and i can get a quick intro. Other times it helps doing third person selling.
With traditional networking its not easy to determine who knows who else!
Are hiring managers using recommendation posted by my present and former colleagues and bosses as a reference. Would they still call to confirm what is posted there ?
Pak-one "old school" network can't find a replacement. All these gadgets and service just enhance those connections. One thing I use it for is if I'm going to meet a new person at a new company I do a quick search and there's a chance I might know someone who knows someone etc. and i can get a quick intro. Other times it helps doing third person selling.
With traditional networking its not easy to determine who knows who else!
Good point.
I am not a networking ninja, so my old school network is strong. I know people on LinkedIn or FB with 500 associates/friends and I think to myself, how does one actually know 500 people? Or are we adding the random coder who pops into fix some macro that the back office royally screwed up?
[quote]
I know people on LinkedIn or FB with 500 associates/friends
[/quote]
I also know a few people with this much connections, and I also don't understand what good these people see in it. Personally I feel like someone having 500 connections is very similar to someone having no connection at all. I would rather be impressed with someone having 30 to 50 good connections.
But then this is just me. I also realize that people who have so many connections are not stupid, and they must have seen some good out of this practice.
I also know a few people with this much connections, and I also don't understand what good these people see in it. Personally I feel like someone having 500 connections is very similar to someone having no connection at all. I would rather be impressed with someone having 30 to 50 good connections.
But then this is just me. I also realize that people who have so many connections are not stupid, and they must have seen some good out of this practice.
Exactly.
I'm not buying the 500+ deal. There is no way you can maintain linkages with that many people. Even keeping a 30-50 person network is a lot of work but so much more beneficial.
I think professionally, you have to perform your job well and make the right connections concurrently.
^ that's why managing your network sensibly is considered to be part of your professional b-rand-ing. I am very selective in accepting both LinkedIn as well as Facebook invites... sometimes I've had to respectfully decline them.
The good thing about online social networking is that you can always maintain multiple online profiles - one of which you can use as a catch-all while keeping your serious professional profile free of network overload.
not everyone in your network has the same level of connection with you.
there will be those who you have worked very closely with and those you have not, add to it classmates, friends, family and others in your or related industries that you meet and it starts adding up quickly. It does not mean it requires the same level of effort, nurturing and contact frequency.
The question is what is your network for, and how you use it. all people in your network are not equal, and you are not equal to others in the networks of some, each level of a contact has a role to play in the network. I have a few people from GS in my network and may have pinged someone for info on a subject, but aside from that there is no other effort put in. my classmate from grade 2 my oldest pal is in my network even though he is in a different field, but he connected with me because I am connected with others in his industry who I can connect him with as he is looking for opportunities.
The question is whether the people who have 500+ contacts, do they know them all or are accepting open invites.
Its a modern day rolodex, everyone is not in your premier contacts section, but people build a large rolodex over time.