I agree with most of the posters, it is not necessarily "wrong" to focus your efforts on LinkedIn. Focus, or better said a lesser spread of focus, can produce better results in any effort.

In the end it really depends upon your target market and desires for your network. If you are targeting specific areas or markets, or are in one of those demographics, that LinkedIn is less likely to have members in, as it was said above about age determining which one users gravitate towards, it might not be your first choice. I noticed some have many profiles and memberships in Plaxo, Facebook, ad infinitum... Personally I focus on high quality groups, like LinkedIn and LIONs, and attempt to keep my spread "less". At the same time I welcome any networking opportunity, I never turn down a call from a recruiter (or anyone looking for business opps for that matter), that does not duplicate my effort or duplicate my information that is already freely available.

Howard R. Stentz III
http://www.linkedin.com/in/howardstentz

Henrik,

It seems to be a pattern at LinkedIN to remove features from the system and ignore open networkers. The conspiracy theorists would suggest this is because LinkedIN's real goal is to have enough members that one of the big boys will buy them. The owners would then cash out with their millions and who knows what would happend to LinkedIN.

I've seen LinkedIN steal a private group, and I've seen them make it impossible to contact group members.

Perhaps the newer networking systems are the way to go - join myspace instead of linkedin?

Grayson

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'." John Greenleaf Whittier

Grayson Walker wrote:
Henrik,

It seems to be a pattern at LinkedIN to remove features from the system and ignore open networkers. The conspiracy theorists would suggest this is because LinkedIN's real goal is to have enough members that one of the big boys will buy them. The owners would then cash out with their millions and who knows what would happend to LinkedIN.

I've seen LinkedIN steal a private group, and I've seen them make it impossible to contact group members.

Perhaps the newer networking systems are the way to go - join myspace instead of linkedin?

Grayson

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'." John Greenleaf Whittier

Grayson
As always you make some good points however I am not ready to give up on Linkedin I have invested to much time into my network. We can only hope that Linkedin gets its act together or someone buys them who does.

http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=3444886&trk=tab_pro

Joe Weinsteiger

President Weinsteiger Consulting,
13k+, TopLinked.com, MyLink500.com,
LION {JoeW.Linkedin@gmail.com}
►INVITES_WELCOMED◄

While I would hate to walk away from my LinkedIn network, LION's are not their main market. They see us as gaming the system and taking too many system resources. They have to build systems that cater to people with thousands in their rolodex. Most people would only have up to 500 people they know "well" and LI's stated goal is to uncover unknown inside connections in your existing network.

That strikes me as a unsustainable competitive advantage. Plaxo want to be your online rolodex, but people hate their spammy updates.

I don't see LI providing the features and tools to handle 2000+ connections. Even desktop software and mobile phones/pda's struggle with that.

So while LI is potentially under threat, I use it while it lasts (which is hopefully a long time).

In the meantime I also use Xing for Europeans, and facebook for Austalians and the film & TV industry.

The best tool is a CRM, email account and a phone.

I focus on Linkedin, which is really internationally, but maybe USA centered, and Ecademy, which is Europe centered (UK).

Considering that my Agent is in Washington D.C., but I work a lot also in Europe, as example lately I'm working with MTV London, well... I cover entire globe

I'm also in other professional networks, but I don't spend my time on them. But a profile here and there is good because you have more pages in the online searches, so... yes, I suggest to subscribe in many networks, the more, the best.

I started to improve my business network with Xing, but I find LinkedIn much more elaborated. That's the reason why I use it more often than Xing.

I know the French like better Viadeo, but I refuse to use it because all my current collegues could see my professional expectations and connexions. I'm not yet ready for it...

The web is a new thing in France, but everyone knows that when looking for a business opportunity, one has to be seen on the web: facebook, personnal website, employment websites, etc.

So, I guess it all depends on what one expects from the business network websites.