A personal example of how one should use LinkedIn?

Since joining LinkedIn mid 07, prior to leaving a role I'd been in for 7.5 years, I felt it was a tool whereby I could connect with a number of my work colleagues to stay in touch. Since then, I've adopted Christian's philosophy and became a Linked In Open Networker (LION) and since Dec 07 have met a load of great "like minded" individuals.

In summary the advantages are see are as follows:

* A pool of highly skilled individuals only to willing to assist each other
* In a sticky quandary in a work situation... a connection WILL have the answer
* By being an open networker your pool of resource to call on exponentially increases As Ivan Misner has quoted

"Successful people do not achieve their success on their own; instead, they surround themselves with a well-developed, sophisticated support network."

The secrets of the utilisation of LinkedIn are out there for all to see. You just need to know where to look. The essence is "givers gain". We're all here to assist each other and I'm seeing the power of the collective really reap dividends. All this matters in my industry because being part of a charitable organisation we have to make limited capital have a far reach into the psyche of the population. I tap into my network for ideas and vendor contacts to utilise the latest web2.0 technologies to put us ahead of the game when we're competing for the conscience of a nation. Hope this is a thought provoking answer and hopefully the links below, including my blog rant will take you off into new directions.

Good luck in your quest for LinkedIn fulfillment.

Links:

• http://connections.thepodcastnetwork.com/
• http://www.linkedintelligence.com/
  
  I also suggest these experts on this topic:
• John Veitch
• Stan Relihan
• Christian Mayaud