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When I was thirteen my friend’s brother gave me his copy of “the wild , the innocent and the e-street shuffle”. Jungleland‘s the album’s anthem and these two lines really cut it with me.
They were the definitive statement of what I wanted to do, get out, get in people’s faces and make some noise.
The hungry and the hunted explode into rocknroll bands
That face off against each other out in the street down in Jungleland
It wasn’t easy growing up in a middle class family in rural Dorset and I can’t say I made much noise or got in many people’s faces, until I joined Linkedin.
What I like about linked in is it allows me to make lots of noise and get in lots of people’s faces.
Of course I use linked in differently from others and I doubt that anyone feels they are a typical linked in user. Most people don’t really want to admit they use it at all as it’s perceived by most employers as a place where the hungry and the hunted are their employers and the predators the recruitment consultants that haunt the mean streets of Cyberbury.
Nor do they want to admit the time they spend wandering around the groups, and poking their noses into other people’s business. But one person is joining this thing every second, it has the most astonishing stock market valuation and it has become the centrepiece of many professional organisations social media marketing strategy.
It is at its core ” business to business” but its genius is that it organises businesses around people. In fact all you see of the businesses you are talking to are the current employees and the their alumni.
The Groups are a means for people independently of their employers to explore others ideas and – more importantly – keep up relations established in the real world or convert aspirational relationships into business.
Critically your profile as a linked in user is portable. As you move from job to job, you take your contacts with you and your profile is maintained seamlessly with the addition of another line of experience and a new set of contact details.
“Out in the street” may be pushing it – Linkedin is a pretty tame echo of Springsteen’s Jungleland, but like the Street, it is a place where individuals have a degree of autonomy, make some noise and define their profile as a part of the organisations to which they belong and as independent human resource.
It exists because of the same urge I had as a thirteen year old – I just wanted to get out more.
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Hi Henry,
Setting aside any economic motivation for joining Linkedin, my own view of the value of LI lies in its unique contribution to collaborative engagement by reaching out to absolute strangers.
The passion that fuels the creation of a blog or the text which appears on LI is not driven by financial gain – notwithstanding the fact that financial gain is a legitimate outcome of social media platforms.
LI is a digital electronic business card, in my opinion, which allows the LI world to become familiar with its members.
Those who relate, engage, connect, collaborate , contribute and grow.
Therein lies its value – both personal and economic in my experience.
It is a magnificent platform for ‘net givers’ (no pun intended).
Keep your thoughts coming directly ‘in our face’.
They are stimulaing.
Best!
Dan Zwicker
Toronto, Canada.
read – stimulating.