Did you see where Wikipedia reported that both Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy had died? Eventually, they will, and eventually Wikipedia will be a reliable source. But if you’re trying to make a case, or do research, or simply enlighten yourself, I’d suggest you go with primary sources and not what is often the biases of contributors.
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Here is a verbatim email sent to me this morning to join my linkedin network, which shows charm, nice writing, and the total usefulness of linkedin:
“I am mentioning Alan’s blog so I hope that means I am not a serial killer 
. I liked your review about Linked In ‘Weakest Link’ and thought it was pretty much on target. The greatest thing I found on Linked In was that I was able to re-connect with my fraternity brothers and even found a few that are modest celebrities. Who knew?”
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As the King of Social Media, I thought my friends might enjoy this:
http://americancomedynetwork.com/animation.html?bit_id=25239
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I’ve found my experiment as Guru of Social Media on Linkedin to be fascinating, but sort of like eating taffy—it’s flavorful, but always on the verge of too much trouble.
Here are the pros thus far:
• People are overwhelmingly polite and respectful. Much better than some of the blogger entries I’ve seen (and we’ve had to delete here).
• When you post a question, you get thoughtful answers with some surprisingly interesting viewpoints and facts, and even those who disagree are generally constructive.
• People who know me tangentially and peripherally can create a closer relationship.
• I guessed, and chose to spend $500 for the year, which I consider reasonable.
Here are the cons:
• The technology is so stunningly primitive that I felt as if I want to fire my web administrator, until I realize I can’t control that! It is slow and unreliable.
• The aesthetics are laughably awful.
• The claims are bizarre. I’m “connected” somehow to nearly a million people at the moment, according to the system. (Can I ask each of them for a dollar?)
• The tight focus on jobs, past employment, and finding employment I believe is too narrowing.
• The greatest and weakest “link”: The ROI is highly questionable. You can spend hours a day on this gizmo with very little return, especially compared with other marketing (or even networking) efforts of higher quality.
I’ll continue to mess around, and you’re all invited to join me, simply state “Alan’s Blog” in your invitation or acceptance or whatever, so that I know you’re not a serial killer (Well, I really wouldn’t know that, would I?).
For those in the Mentor Program, there is a special Mentor Group I’ve formed. There are 20 people in it, and I have no idea how I did that or how they got in there or how to use it, but we’re all working on that!
One final stunner: There was, for a while, a bizarro world Linkedin with a bizarr0 Alan, only 25% complete, as though I hadn’t been there for a week. Then I signed out and signed back in, and bizarro world disappeared, and my full profile reappeared. Maybe Linkedin connects to another universe entirely. Not THAT’S networking!
© 2008 Alan Weiss. All rights reserved.
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