The social networking site for business professionals, LinkedIn is the most restrictive social network in terms of customization and integration. It does not include any photo-sharing features, and was the last major social networking site to allow users to post photos of themselves to their profiles. The core function of LinkedIn is professional networking, so it is used heavily by job seekers and recruiters. LinkedIn restricts contact between members so that only individuals who are directly contacted can message each other. The LinkedIn features most useful to marketers are Groups and Answers.
LinkedIn is the only one of the three major social networking sites that charges a fee for some types of access. The paid-for features are focused on recruiters and allow them to post jobs and contact people they are not directly connected to.
Because of the restrictions placed on messaging between users, LinkedIn has a feature called Introductions, where a user finds a "path" of shared connections between herself and someone she would like to contact. Each step along the way, she receives a request message, and can choose to not forward it or to continue the chain with a personalized message to one of her contacts (see Figure 4-8).
Introductions can be useful to the marketer who wants to find a personalized way to connect with a blogger or journalist through shared connections.
A feature specific to LinkedIn is Recommendations. With this feature, users can write short endorsements of other users they've worked with in the past (see the lefthand side of Figure 4-9). During a job search, these recommendations can function as a form of reference.
Nonpaying LinkedIn users can also post up to 10 questions per month that will be answered by the community. Answering questions is an easy technique for marketers who wish to establish thought leadership and name recognition in a specific field. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for specific categories of questions to be alerted when a new question is added. Questions are open to answers for one week, and there is an advantage to being the first to answer—you should check for new questions often.
Answers can be marked as "good" or "best," which awards the answerer points. If your answer is flagged as a best answer, your profile is labeled as that of an expert. Questioners prefer in-depth responses that provide detailed and specific information, and that don't include pitches for commercial products or services. Remember, you're trying to establish yourself as a thought leader, not peddle your wares. The righthand side of Figure 4-9 shows an example of the LinkedIn Answers feature.
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