Miscellanous LinkedIn (and Facebook) Roundup

Miscellanous LinkedIn (and Facebook) Roundup This is a very small roundup with some very cool resources: Want a makeover? It seems that Ive inspired Scott Allen, author of The Virtual Handshake, guide on the entrepreneurs site at About.com, columnist for Fast Company and even executive editor of my new book (coming soon) Im On LinkedIn Now What???. He is starting a LinkedIn profile makeover and will probably do them monthly. Go on over and leave a comment on this post to put your name in the hat wouldnt it be cool to have him do a makeover for you? Hes quite a bit smarter than I am, and very analytical, so Im sure that it will be done in good taste and youll get good value out of it. Recommend someone to nurture your relationship! The next link came from Scott, pointing me to Naina Redhus blog post about writing recommendations on LinkedIn. Seems like a simple thing but Naina provides excellent advice on how to write an effective recommendation. I strongly encourage you to read it and then apply it today. Beware, using social networking sites can be hazardous to your (mental) health! Finally, there was a policy and feature change at LinkedIn a couple of months ago (I didnt see this on their blog). Heres the deal if I invite you to join my network, you have the option of saying I dont know you. Seems like no big deal, right? Well, it is a big deal. Currently (Im expecting this to change), if I get five people that click on that little I dont know you button then my account gets suspended!! Still no big deal, right? What if I go into my Outlook Contacts, with 200 contacts, and invite them all? Many of them either dont know me, or wont remember me Im pretty sure I would get 5 clicks from that and my account will be suspended. Ive heard LinkedIn users cry foul!! about this feature since it came out. The intention is good, but the implementation is rotten. Think this is limited to LinkedIn? Its not. Harry Joiner, the Marketing Headhunter, has just been banned by Facebook for uploading his Gmail contacts. Granted, there were 4,600 contacts in his Gmail account but the bottom line is that his account was permanently disabled. Harry cant play at Facebook anymore (unless he goes under another name and e-mail and fakes them out). Its not that uncommon, apparently. There seems to be a big question mark with regard to this kind of policy right now companies are saying you cant do that while users are saying isnt this what the site is all about??. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I cant imagine that this is going to be a big deal for big companies in the limelight like LinkedIn and Facebook, but when you cross the line with a recruiter who blogs (and, btw, who all recruiting bloggers have immense respect for) you kind of have to be careful. At least they are getting publicity. Here are some of the others that are blogging about Harrys problem: RecruitingBloggers.com Seattle Recruiting Recruiting Animal College Recruiter Wireless Jobs Facebook Observer MarketingProfs Dave Mendoza The bottom line is, use it, have fun, but beware of little gotchas that can wreak havoc on your mental health (for example, even though there is an Outlook plugin for LinkedIn, I wouldnt recommend you use it to invite your contact book until this is resolved) Good luck Harry! Miscellanous LinkedIn (and Facebook) Roundup This is a very small roundup with some very cool resources: Want a makeover? It seems that Ive inspired Scott Allen, author of The Virtual Handshake, guide on the entrepreneurs site at About.com, columnist for Fast Company and even executive editor of my new book (coming soon) Im On LinkedIn Now What???. He is starting a LinkedIn profile makeover and will probably do them monthly. Go on over and leave a comment on this post to put your name in the hat wouldnt it be cool to have him do a makeover for you? Hes quite a bit smarter than I am, and very analytical, so Im sure that it will be done in good taste and youll get good value out of it. Recommend someone to nurture your relationship! The next link came from Scott, pointing me to Naina Redhus blog post about writing recommendations on LinkedIn. Seems like a simple thing but Naina provides excellent advice on how to write an effective recommendation. I strongly encourage you to read it and then apply it today. Beware, using social networking sites can be hazardous to your (mental) health! Finally, there was a policy and feature change at LinkedIn a couple of months ago (I didnt see this on their blog). Heres the deal if I invite you to join my network, you have the option of saying I dont know you. Seems like no big deal, right? Well, it is a big deal. Currently (Im expecting this to change), if I get five people that click on that little I dont know you button then my account gets suspended!! Still no big deal, right? What if I go into my Outlook Contacts, with 200 contacts, and invite them all? Many of them either dont know me, or wont remember me Im pretty sure I would get 5 clicks from that and my account will be suspended. Ive heard LinkedIn users cry foul!! about this feature since it came out. The intention is good, but the implementation is rotten. Think this is limited to LinkedIn? Its not. Harry Joiner, the Marketing Headhunter, has just been banned by Facebook for uploading his Gmail contacts. Granted, there were 4,600 contacts in his Gmail account but the bottom line is that his account was permanently disabled. Harry cant play at Facebook anymore (unless he goes under another name and e-mail and fakes them out). Its not that uncommon, apparently. There seems to be a big question mark with regard to this kind of policy right now companies are saying you cant do that while users are saying isnt this what the site is all about??. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I cant imagine that this is going to be a big deal for big companies in the limelight like LinkedIn and Facebook, but when you cross the line with a recruiter who blogs (and, btw, who all recruiting bloggers have immense respect for) you kind of have to be careful. At least they are getting publicity. Here are some of the others that are blogging about Harrys problem: RecruitingBloggers.com Seattle Recruiting Recruiting Animal College Recruiter Wireless Jobs Facebook Observer MarketingProfs Dave Mendoza The bottom line is, use it, have fun, but beware of little gotchas that can wreak havoc on your mental health (for example, even though there is an Outlook plugin for LinkedIn, I wouldnt recommend you use it to invite your contact book until this is resolved) Good luck Harry!