Do I need a LinkedIn?

Lately I've been hearing a lot of questions about LinkedIn.
Do you need one? Maybe.
Depending on your field and potential employer it may or may not help in a job search, but it certainly can't hurt. LinkedIn is an excellent way to stay connected to professional contacts who haven't quite made your Facebook friend list. For those of us lucky enough to be employed, it can serve as as insurance policy against the wrath of the economy.

Setting up a LinkedIn profile is much more like writing a resume than setting up a Facebook due to the introspection and time required. The following articles should help

For Newbies...
How to Use Your LinkedIn Profile – a Checklist

• Breaks down each task and includes anticipated time commitment for each.

How to Ensure Your LinkedIn Profile Is Effective

• Translates the purpose of each component of your profile.

If you need a tweak...
7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn

• Lengthier article. Covers basic features that are useful, but often overlooked.

Potential of web 2.0 in the corporate world when you don't have a product to sell

I feel like most people are getting how you can use 2.0 tools to promote a tangible product. Zappos is a great example. There are many more out there. This trend been slow to move into the consulting world. There are 2.0 opportunities to encourage staff as well as client engagement. These principles really are quite similar to what mainstream brands we are doing.

Use	Possible Tools
Managing staff knowledge	Wikis, other CMS, Twitter i.e. Puget Sound Partnership
Supporting public involvement	Facebook, Twitter, Wikis i.e. Edmonton City Centre Airport
Competitive intelligence (competitors & employment prospects)	LinkedIn, Facebook
Marketing your brand	Facebook, Twitter i.e. Pizza Hut

It is surprising that even the 2.0 darling of the PNW A/E industry, WSDOT, has integrated barely any of the 2.0 technologies that their communications department is actively using into their project pages .

Internet Search Current Trends

Went to Gary Price's latest SLA research toolbox webinar recently. Good stuff. There is an extensive resource list detailing the cool stuff we learned about. Here's the cliffs notes version, optimized for the truly special librarian.

Go Mobile! Many sites now have mobile versions (i.e. OCLC, wikipedia, etc. etc.).

Trend Watching. Twitter becoming the standard for internet trend and business tracking.

Visualization. Most implementations are for search results.

Stalking. Tracking people’s and website’s movement and changes can seem creepy and voyeuristic, but it can be tremendously useful.

Get Hip! There are many ways to keep current and to find new content. Many websites out there to help you automate the process. Most have RSS feeds or Twitter account.

Search Tools. While there are only five full scale databases of internet webpages (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live, Ask, Cuil) there are many specialty tools that help you access a specific type of content.

Content Management. An completely enormous topic and problem that was only briefly touched on in this seminar.

Hello world!

I've been thinking about starting a blog for almost 10 years.

Really.

Not quite sure what took me so long to get around to it. I can say that during Ignite 6 in Seattle someone (can't remember who) said there is no reason why you shouldn't share what you know because what you get in return will be exponentially greater in size in comparison to what you "lost."

I'm excited to see where this new venue for conversation takes us!