Networking sites

[Mayra]

Have sites like http://www.linkedin.com generated success for you guys? Just curious.
Are there any other similar sites out there we could share with each other?

[Evan]

Hi Mayra,

Great post!

LinkedIn has some pros and cons - I was interviewed in PROFIT Magazine recently on it.

Here's what it said:

But, as LinkedIn user and Toronto entrepreneur Evan Carmichael notes, "If you have to go through more than one person [for an introduction], the chances of getting a reply really go down." Luckily, LinkedIn's paid subscriptions — ranging from US$15 to US$200 a year — allow you to send direct inquiries to people in the outer orbit of your network.

Long popular with headhunters, online business networks (OBNs) are now being used by CEOs for do-it-yourself recruiting. Organ says LinkedIn helped him hire a senior VP of business development who is based in Silicon Valley. He has also used his online connections to conduct blind reference checks and has "avoided two bad hires" as a result.

Carmichael has discovered another way to leverage OBNs: "I'll get calls from people on my network saying, 'I see you know so-and-so from XYZ Company. How do you know them?' Then they contact the person at XYZ with a phone call rather than via LinkedIn."

However you use OBNs, think of them as supplements to old-fashioned, face-to-face networking. While keystrokes can help you open more deals, you still need handshakes to close them.

[BigJim22]

I've been on LinkedIn for about a year and have found it useless. I've upload a few contacts and have some friends conneted to me but no business has come from it and most of the requests I made got stopped somewhere along the way. Face to face networking is the best way!

[Stefanie]

Keith Ferrazzi, one of Evan's expert authors, has a great post about the benefits of LinkedIn on his own blog. You can read it here:

http://nevereatalone.typepad.com/blog/2 ... he_tr.html

[MM571]

Hi,

I was wondering if there are any young entrepreneurs who have had success with any other online networking sites, aside from LinkedIn. Are there any sites available that are geared specifically towards young entrepreneurs? Do relationships from these online sites ever translate into tangible results?

Thanks.

[myownboss]

I've had some success in meeting entrepreneurs through linkedin - to find key contacts at organizations you can also use Jigsaw- I read about it in a recent business magazine and am going to check it out.

[IWDCanada]

I believe that any site is a potential networking site depending on what you put into it. You don’t need a specific site for networking to make things happen. I’m a huge car enthusiast and I’ve been on several car related forums where I meet other car nuts. Just socializing there has paid off for me in both my personal and business life. I’ve met many business owners, top execs, and the like through these forums. We talk because we have the same interests and usually one thing leads to another and I have a new deal on my desk soon enough.

[myownboss]

I like to do a lot of email marketing and have found Jigsaw to be pretty good. It's a little expensive compared to some other systems but they are very targeted. If you're looking to find the Vice President in charge of ______ at a certain company, it's a good place to look.

good luck!