I’ve written more than 450 posts on my Linkedin User Manual (http://linkedinusermanual.blogspot.com), yet I don’t remember writing a post as important as this one.
Indeed, this one is about the ultra-critical question of WHAT you believe Linkedin to be. This belief will serve — consciously or unconsciously — as the basis for how you think about Linkedin and how you behave on Linkedin.
For instance, if you believe that Linkedin is for social networking, then you will use it to, well, socialize. You would NOT have any expectation of increasing your income as a result of using Linkedin.
However, if you believe that Linkedin is for business development, then you will strive to make money from using Linkedin.
If you look at your Linkedin connections, it is fairly easy to see who believes what. People who have less than 200 connections, are likely to believe that Linkedin is for social networking. People who have more than 200 — or, to be sure, people who have over 500 connections — are likely to believe that Linkedin is for business purposes.
Of course, there are people who have over 500 connections yet have no clue about how to monetize those connections. But at least, they’re off to a better start, should they decide to use Linkedin to make money one day, than people who have less than 200 connections.
Another clue as to what people believe, is whether or not they are “open networkers.” Open networkers are folks to accept to connect to anyone who invites them to their network. They are more likely to view Linkedin as a business tool and not just a social networking tool.
Whatever people believe is, of course, up to them, and there is no place for judgment.
But given the fact that Linkedin shows no sign of slowing down in terms of the growth of its user base (which, according to Linkedin, has one million new members every month), then it is reasonable to question whether people who use it purely for social networking will continue to do so.
In my own network of 945 connections, over 600 connections each have more than 500 connections.
I personally use Linkedin for business purposes, not social purposes. Even my questions and answers on Linkedin Answers are formulated according to my business strategy, since I don’t believe in wasting time answering questions here and there without having a central strategy in place. This is how I’ve been able to become the top expert on career-related questions, with 23 best answers.
In fact, my best answers are being compiled into an ebook that I will offer to all my connections.
My point is very simple: Linkedin will inevitably become a business development platform, and people who insist on viewing it purely as a social networking site might lose a great many opportunities to dramatically increase their income while learning about business.
I should point out that a few people (perhaps 3 or 4 in my network) are making the opposite mistake of viewing Linkedin as a place for aggressively spamming other people.
Ideally, one should have a strategy of diplomatically and gently socializing with other people (yes, strangers) with the aim of finding out whether there can be a win-win partnership where both parties benefit economically and financially.
About three years ago, when Linkedin has “only” 3 million users, I created the blog Linkedin User Manual (http://linkedinusermanual.blogspot.com) because I believed everybody would soon be on it. I was right.
Now, I’m predicting that soon, everybody will be using Linkedin for business purposes, and so I recommend that every user learn how to market and sell on Linkedin. The stakes are quite high, perhaps millions of dollars if you have an information product (like an ebook or any digital content that can be sold via Payloadz) that can be sold directly or indirectly (via affiliates) to the 25+ million users of Linkedin.
