I’ve had an account on Linkedin for several years, since my brother joined and invited me to join and link to him. I never really understood the system until recently, when more has been written about the professional networking site. This article from Web Workers Daily (via Lifehacker) outlines 20 ways to use the service productively. I decided that I should upgrade my presence on the site. I have been reconnecting with old friends who are also on the service, and encouraging students to use it as well. Two of my former students are in my links list.
As part of my effort to better utilize the service, I asked a question in their Answers section. This section allows users to ask and answer professional questions on a whole range of topics. I asked the question on Sunday about what I should be including in my project management course from an industry perspective, and on Tuesday evening, have received 10 responses, some of them quite lengthy. (My wife says that the answers I’m getting say a lot about the types of cultures and people who are answering the question. I won’t analyze the answers here, however.) In addition, I have had one person link to me, and two others tell me to contact them again if they have further questions.
Of course, this is all a bit self-serving for the people who answer (as it is for me). At least one will speak on various topics (for a fee, I suppose), and at least a couple of the people who answered seem to be providing contract services. But that is the nature of professional networking anyway.
Anyway, it seems to be a good tool, and the people who answered provided good information that will benefit my students. I look forward to using this tool more.
