Social networks are everywhere and the “monetization” word is becoming part of the discussion, as this recent RWW post shows. I’ve used several of these networks, such as Spoke which I haven’t accessed for a couple of years. For business, the leader in North America is LinkedIn, while Xing has a solid presence in Europe. What I’ve found, though are that these networks that are focused on business don’t do much for my business.
So far, LinkedIn has been good for asking questions, as I received some excellent advice on enterprise wikis in very short order. My Xing profile gets more hits than LinkedIn, even though I only have 6 connections on Xing versus 98 on LinkedIn. I joined Xing (just the free account for now) to see if the connections or conversations would be different. Not much to report back yet, but I may upgrade to see if that makes a difference.
In terms of business return, my blog ranks the highest, probably because I’ve invested the most time in it. I have had a few cold calls for consulting work directly from my blog, as well as several requests for speaking engagements or journal articles. If you’re a member of ASTD there should be one of my articles in April’s edition of T&D, and for Atlantic Canadians, check out the piece on blogging for business in the Feb/Mar edition of Progress magazine. Blogging has been good for me. I’ve even had a client find me indirectly through Craigslist.
I’d be interested in knowing if anyone finds these online business networks of much value, especially if they also have a blog.
Harold, I’d forgotten I had a LinkedIn profile till I got an email from a colleague I’d lost touch with.
I’ve wondered whether it isn’t like an early and slightly kludgy version of software — like WordStar, for example, which once ruled the PC screen.
I’ve got nothing against LinkedIn; it just doesn’t seem to provide any value to me.