Reinke Faces Life

At the end of the first week: (for all contacts older than one month)

%Dead 0.0720
%Unresponding 0.6490
%MyEmployer 0.0719
%HeadHunters 0.0182

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My original focus was on “breakage”. But at a little more than 5%, that’s not terrible. I am attempting to “reach around” the break. That’s how I describe sending an InMail directly to a contact of the “broken contact”.

Since my first email only induced about 30% to respond, I’ll have to figure out a better approach.

Sigh. Always more to do!

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In building your LinkedIn circle of connections, it appears wise to have some organized system of tracking them from the beginning. Lest, awhile down the road, you WILL be asked “How do I know you?”. Sometimes that’s a tough question. Unless you have anticipated it.

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FROM A LINKEDIN QUESTION, MY ANSWER:

*** begin quote ***

I recently started a new job. How can I send an update message in to all of my LinkedIn connections letting them know?

*** end quote ***

I’d suggest going the extra mile and send each person a personalized email.

It can be identical in content but you’ll find that individual messages get through spam filter easier.

Also, if by chance a email address is out of date — not likely that would ever happen with LinkedIn-ites — my current number of bum address is 7% — you’ll have some personalized text to resolve it. Sometimes bounces don’t really give you enough to go on.

You can even repay the Universe for your good fortune by asking if they need you help.

If you use Microsoft Word, Exce, and Outlook, it’s pretty easy to do a merge. I download LinkedIn contacts into an XLS sheet. Spruce up the name field. Create a message in Word. Then run a merge. It’ll stuff them in your Outlook email outbox and they ship out on the next send receive.

All pretty easy to do.

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You can subdivided you contacts into “panels” by the first letter of their last name. (It’s useful for may things. Days Outstanding measurement. Balancing what LinkedIn thinks you have versus what you have in Outlook.)

I have a little trick for finding out how many of a certain letter LinkedIn has. If you go to the “contacts” screen in LinkedIn and tap on the letter in the index, then up at the top is “showing xxx of yyyy connections”. And there is your check total. It’s better than trying to count, or print to count.

fwiw

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In my LinkedIn Outlook folder, I have 1109 contacts. In LinkedIn, I have 1100. Why the discrepancy?

And, it’s not easy to figure it out.

One can count until you’re bleary eyed. But it’s like counting sheep, it’ll put you to sleep.

And, is it an “activity trap” type of activity? Or, does it lead to something useful?

Don’t know.

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FROM AN EMAIL TO A LINKEDIN CONTACT WHO HAD BEEN “POUNDED”:

*** begin quote ***

FYI Your profile has been sent to the “dog pound” by LinkedIn. I think you need to take some action on that, but I don’t know what to tell you. It’s my understanding that you will not, repeat NOT, be found in any LinkedIn searches if you’ve been “pounded”. So right away, I think you have a problem. It’s my again my understanding that LinkedIn has done this to anyone who has their email, or other strange characters in their name field. The hard part is only YOUR first level connections can see this “pounding”, and tell you about it. Others that I have told, have “fixed” the problem and about a week later were “un-pounded”. Please advise if, after you “fix” it, you want me to check for you again.

Fjohn

*** end quote ***

AND HERE”S WHERE I FIRST HEARD ABOUT IT:

*** begin quote ***

Is Your Profile Ending Up In The Linkedin Dog Pound?
Posted by: “Vincent Wright”
Tue Nov 7, 2006 10:01 pm (PST)

Because of the way the symbol for it is pronounced, I think of the “#”
Section of Linkedin’s Remove Connections as “The Dog Pound” . (Some may
think this a good name for certain types of profiles. :-))

In case you’re not familiar with the “#” Section on Linkedin, it’s located
at the end of the alphabetized list of your contacts at:
http://www.linkedin.com/connections?displayBreakConnections

You and I cannot place any contacts in this area. Profiles are assigned
there by Linkedin’s contact algorithm based on certain types of elements
being present in the name field – I believe.

Food For Thought: Some people may use this as a way to clean up “weak”
connections en masse. If this happens, your profile may unintentionally be
removed even by a connection who may know you pretty well as a “strong”
connection.

—
Thanks!
Vincent Wright
Chief Encouragement Officer
www.VincentWright.com

*** end quote ***

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A LinkedIn Question
by Rob Richard
Entrepreneur & IT Consultant

*** begin quote ***

Has LinkedIn missed the boat?

Is it me or does LinkedIn seem stagnant; complacent? I’ve not seen any new features in eons, and it really is getting rather old.

With the recent and sizeable cash infusion to facebook from Microsoft ($250 million worth!), what is LinkedIn’s response? There are so many things that could enhance the service. Open it up to developers just as facebook has. I think facebook is more young-people / early adopter centric, but LinkedIn could at least learn a lesson from them and stake their claim in the business and professional networking sites by adding more stickiness.

On more than one occasion I’ve sent suggestions on how to improve the site and its offerings and never heard anything in return. Now as a web entrepreneur, if I have people giving me free suggestions on how to make it more useful, I’d listen. So the question I ask is: “Has LinkedIn missed the boat?”

*** end quote ***

A very tough question.

I personally am not sure of the benefits versus costs of LinkedIn. It may well be an “activity trap” where effort far exceeds results. I think that they have a tiger by the tail.

I haven’t seen anything better.

Facebook came the closest with it’s using college email addresses to define “networks” and with some widespread adoption. But they were aiming at a different value equation.

I think LinkedIn’s poor (in some case non-existent) customer service, it’s new five “idontknows” lockout, and the MONUMENTAL blunder about hassling the LinkedIn affinity groups like LinkedInNewYork and all of Vincent Wright’s efforts is indicative of their “cluelessness”.

Have they missed the boat? No!

Have they failed to capture the wave? Yes!

If Amazon, Ebay, the Ron Paul Presidential run, and other web20 successes taught us anything, it should be that within a very well defined meme let the users surprise you with their energy. And, then hang on tight.

I suggested eons ago, that LinkedIn give me three fields for each of my contacts. One for a private note, one for a note visible only to them, and one was a “last contact date”. The private note was for my use to trigger my memory or record an important fact.The mutually visible note would be for me to record how I knew the person or what I owed them. The date was so I could produce a “days outstanding” metric and sort a “make contact list” by age. NEVER, never, never heard anything back on the idea. It showed me that they weren’t serious about servicing my needs. Only their own.

Later when they hassled the user groups, I knew they had NO CLUE about making LinkedIn a success from my point of view.

So, “No, they haven’t missed the boat” only because there is NO competition to jump to.

imho.

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Arghh! This is annoying. I have ten discrepancies between what I show and what LinkedIn has. And, I didn’t even start reconciling what Outlook has.

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(1) Not easy to do.

(2) I watch my LinkedIn-ites pretty carefully, I have an excel spreadsheet that use to track. However many adjustments are needed to reconcile.

(3) In my spreadsheet, I have a column that takes the first character of the last name with the formula =UPPER(LEFT(celladdr,1)). That establishes what I call a panel.

(4) A separate sheet in the workbook creates a 1 in the A column if the panel cell is an “A”. B column tests B. and so on until Z. Row and column summaries look for errors.

(5) I hate when on LinkedIn people silently leave. I don’t want to keep them if they don’t want to be linked, but I would like to know that they have left. This is one of my gripes with LinkedIn. How do you handle the “leavers”?

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FROM AN LINKEDIN CONTACT’S EMAIL

>the connections you made from that MySQL blast that put the recipients in the cc field instead of the bcc field

Sure, while I haven’t chatted with him yet this year, I know he had two LinkedIn accounts at one time. Wonder if he ever had them merged?

That’s a interesting question.

I don’t know how many contacts I picked up that way. I do know that my “average days outstanding is 231. And my target for LinkedIn contacts is 180.

So I’m glad you asked.

I feel that I have identified about 5% of my contacts that are “dead”. It probably makes sense to prune the deadwood.

Maybe I should have a “census” of biblical proportions? Unlike Herord’s, contacts wouldn’t have to return to their birth city. Just reply to an email. Seems like a good idea.

How do you manage your LinkedIn connections?

Or, any connections?

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November 1, 2007

180 pings out, 6 dead, 50 live

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Vincent Wright
Staffing Manager, Quoin, Inc.

*** begin quote ***

What Would A Multi-Billion Dollar Linkedin Look Like?

I dare you to repeat that title three times, fast! ?

What would a multi-billion dollar Linkedin look like?
What would a multi-billion dollar Linkedin look like?
What would a multi-billion dollar Linkedin look like?

All kidding aside: In looking at the profile of Linkedin CEO, Dan Nye, there is an ultra-compact but highly powerful one sentence statement describing his current mission: “Leading LinkedIn to become a multi-billion dollar company and the most customer driven company in the world.” ( http://www.linkedin.com/in/danielnye )

SO???…

“a multi-billion dollar company”?

Does it borrow from Facebook? MySpace? Google? Yahoo? eBay? Amazon? Neither?

What do you think a multi-billion dollar Linkedin would look like?

*** end quote ***

It might be able to tell me the last time a person was “active” and it might let me keep some notes about my contacts (i.e., like how I know them — my memory isn’t so good — what was the question?). And, I’ll go way out on a limb here, it might allow me to measure “days outstanding” (i.e., how long since I last interacted with you) and sort by who I need to “freshen up” with.

Now back to reality. Jury is still out -imho- if LinkedIn, Facebook, or even MySpace is anything more than an activity trap!

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http://www.happyabout.info/linkedinhelp.php

Book: I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???: A Guide to Getting the Most OUT of LinkedIn

*** begin quote ***

This book is designed to help you get the most out this popular business networking site. With over 12 million members there is a lot of potential to find and develop relationships to help in your business and personal life, but many professionals find themselves wondering what to do once they signup. This book explains the different benefits of the system and recommends best practices so that you can get the most out of LinkedIn.

*** end quote ***

{Disclaimer: I know Jason and have collaborated with him on various topics in the past, and would expect to do so in the future. This is MY opinion. And, anyone who knows me knows it’s not for sale. I have received no consideration for this review. I was given a proof copy to review and sent my feedback to Jason. If my suggestions made it in to the final, that was up to him. Unlike some bloggers, I have my own set of ethics about what I allow to influence my opinion. Now if he wants to send me a stack of hundreds, I can revisit that policy. Till then, nothing you read here is sullied by anything so mundane as money.}

Jason has written a book. Now that it’s out, I can take notice of it. These are my thoughts about it.

A good one, imho!

He gets kudos for turning out a “hit the ground running” tome. I think it’s more useful than the average self-help book.

About the only suggestion I’d make is to create a workbook to help the reader “fill out” forms before getting to the computer. I see people building profiles in “real time”; not realizing that their mistakes are live when they hit save. Beginners need to be a little cautious about creating “future digital dirt”. I know one beginner who was, horsing around, putting in lame entries as place holders. Google came through and swept up the profile and it was enshrined as “him” in their search space. By virtue of his unusual name, he’s having a devil of a time pushing the “lame entries” down in the search results. (Although I did share a secret about back dating content and having the bot believe it. You need a friend with an “old” web site, site map with a Google date stamp on it, and a willingness to do a little forgery. Don’t trust anything on the net completely. Even Google’s bot has some blind spots.)

If the new owners of LinkedIn have any horse sense, they’d offer it with each paid subscription.

And, the LinkedIn Executive Leadership should read it to figure out their value proposition. (The Intelligent Designer knows they have no clue! LinkedIn has some of the characteristics of a schizophrenic. And their changing policies reflect that lack of insight and shifting values.) Then, they should have their employees read it. They all might have some sense of what people are trying to use the site to do.

I have several quibbles about LinkedIn, not the least of which is “12M members”. Which Jason repeats. Some of the others, Jason covers in “shady practices”. Perhaps, in his next book about LinkedIn, he can expose some of the “nuances” of those flaws. Not the least of which is the “shifting sands” of LinkedIn’s policies. But after all, this is intended to be an “entry level” book, and some of these flaws don’t become apparent until you spent a lot of time “shaking the monitor and pounding on the keyboard”. His next book can cover the effects of “pounding”. :-)

A new user can use Jason guidance to use Linkedin. Maybe some understanding will come from that guidance. The book is also useful in finding high quality people, who are open to helping. That’s different from being an “open networker” or a “mega-connector”. Big difference! Using endorsements, the newbie can quickly establish credibility. And, one you are “endorsed”, you have in effect enlisted the endorser in your continued success. Often the leads to non-Linkedin content is, per se, a window into someone’s thinking. When that is your boss, new boss, hiring manager, or even a networking jewel it’s like found gold. Identifying an influential blogger — No, not me, I only have six (3 relatives and 2 friends whim I quiz) faithful readers — from the LinkedIn profiles is like getting a seat in an advanced seminar in a graduate class.

I recommend Jason’s book to every turkey (i.e., FOWG jobseeker) that wanders into my turkey farm (http://tinyurl.com/lxu93) as a fast way to come up to speed on a potentially valuable resource. I say potentially because I think the jury is still out on LinkedIn. Link MySpace, Facebook, Ryze, and the 999 other social networking sites out there, it is hard to say who will “win” in the marketplace, or how stuff will morph.

Until that’s decided, use Jason’s book to get into the current leader in the “business social networking” genre.

You have to be quick because in the technology space change happens quickly. You can stand on Jason’s shoulders and get a leg up in the coopetition (i.e., cooperative competition) that is “networking”.

So, after all these words, for those that need a conclusion, I’ve stamped his book:

RECOMMENDED

Can I be any clearer? From the fellow who recommends very very few things a (job)seeker should pay for, this is one of them.

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