When giving presentations or workshops, I ask the participants if they have a profile on LinkedIn and if so who has used LinkedIn to request an intro to a specific individual. Most folks immediately joke that they have a profile but it is only 40 (or some number other than 100) percent complete.
I also ask participants if they have a profile on Facebook and if so, who has uploaded their organization’s contact list. As you can see below, folks are likely to have a profile but are a) not using LinkedIn to strategically expand their network and b) not using Facebook professionally.
Chicago – Net Tuesday DC – New America Fdn Cbus – Ohio Small Biz Dev Ctrs
LinkedIn profile 70% 100% 100%
Request intro 20% 13% 41%
Facebook 77% 53% 100%
Uploaded org contacts 35% 37% 8%
This tells us that folks recognize the need to be on LinkedIn and Facebook but do not understand how to professionally utilize either tool.
Professionals generally understand the need to be on LinkedIn. They recognize that LinkedIn is a professional networking site. The challenge is more in how and why to use the tool. There are multiple benefits to being on LinkedIn. The greatest proactive benefit is the ability to generate warm introductions. The greatest passive benefit is other’s ability to find the online professional representation of you.
Facebook is a different story. Many professionals view Facebook as an exclusively social tool. Facebook did begin as a tool for college students but today it can help professionals efficiently expand their network, develop current relationships, and promote an organization/project/event. At the Chicago workshop, one participant uploaded her nonprofit's contacts during the workshop and found 2/3 of them were on Facebook. She was immediately sold on using Facebook to promote her org. Considering the viral nature of Facebook, she is beginning with an amazing headstart.
For effective use, both tools require an integrated online/offline strategy. Concentrating solely on social networks to the exclusion of offline networks will severely diminish the benefits of social networking. So, go on, upload your org's contacts to Facebook. Find out if your professional network has already discovered the mainstream benefits of this tool.
