Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn. Neal Schaffer

information overload. The middle section is divided between an “Inbox,” “Network Updates,” and “Company News” (if you are currently employed and your company is in the LinkedIn directory).

      On top, the Inbox will simply display your latest five messages, combined with a summary of action items, or messages you have not responded to yet. The bottom Company News will display news from the company you have listed on your profile as being “current.” The meat of the information here lies in the Network Updates.

      Network Updates begin with a “What are you working on now?” status bar that you can update. I call this the “Status Update Bar” and have devoted an entire section, “The Status Update: “What are You Working on Now?” in Chapter 10: Customizing Your LinkedIn Experience, to cover this in greater detail.

      The information below your Status Update Bar in Network Updates is filled with fascinating content being broadcast to you from your connections. These updates will keep you up-to-date on whatever your Windmill Networking contacts are doing on LinkedIn. From updating their profiles with new job information to posting a new photo, if your connections have agreed to broadcast their activity to their network, it will show up in this area. A lot of LinkedIn users get into a habit of spending the first few minutes of their day screening through this information, as it often supplies insightful information you can utilize to initiate a conversation. The information also helps you keep in close contact with your Windmill Network.

      If you click the “See more updates” text next to the “Network Updates” title, you will be led to a screen where you can see a plethora of broadcasted content from your network. Four tabs appear conveniently at the top to help you navigate through “All Updates,” “Category View,” “Connection View,” as well as seeing what you are broadcasting to your network in “My Updates.”

      It is interesting to note that the following types of information can be found in the “Category View”:

      •Connection Updates – who connected with whom

      •Group Updates – who joined which Group

      •Status Updates – who wrote what in their “Status Update” bar

      •Events – who has RSVPed or is interested in certain events

      •Application Updates – who has updated public information in their application

      •Recommendations – who has sent or received Recommendations

      •Questions & Answers – who has asked or answered questions

      •Photo Updates – who has updated their photo

      •Polls – who has created or commented on a Poll

      •Job Posts – who has posted a job on LinkedIn Jobs

      •Profile Updates – who has updated their profile information

      As you can see, Network Updates are unique and are extremely valuable for keeping a pulse on how your network is doing. The fact that everything you do on LinkedIn is recorded and could thus be broadcasted is scary; however, there is a wealth of information you can use here on a daily basis to monitor your network in a timely and relevant fashion.

      In fact, by “mimicking” what your network is doing, you can come into contact with valuable people to connect with, events you might be interested in, Groups that may be of value, and questions you might be able to answer. Remember, it is about Paying It Forward. I personally have not yet gotten into the habit of reading this information on a daily basis, but I am going to make it a future priority to do so. I hope you do as well!

      Note that you have the power to completely customize what information is broadcast here on your Home Page by selecting “Manage Your Network Update Settings” at the bottom left of the Network Updates section.

      Finally, we move on to the right-hand side of this middle section. Like a newspaper, the content here is designed to catch your eye. You have some degree of customization of the modules here, so you will find this section particularly useful.

      At the very top, you should see a little module called “People You May Know.” This is how LinkedIn suggests you connect with people, similar to the Facebook functionality. I need to be honest in that I have only seen this module pop up for a few days. It should be a regular feature on your Home Page, but if it is not, you are not alone. I wasn’t necessarily impressed with the matching of the people that LinkedIn gives me, but depending on the logic of their matching algorithm, you might have better luck.

      Once you skim the Direct Ad that appears below this, you should see the “Who’s Viewed My Profile?” module. This is an interesting module which tells you how many people have viewed your profile and how many times your name has appeared in a search result in the last day. Below this is a "See more" link, which, if you press it, will give you details about 5 people who have viewed your profile.

      Note that in order to see everyone who has viewed your profile, you need to upgrade to a paid account. Furthermore, under “Account & Settings,” there is a Privacy Setting for Profile Views. The default setting for this shows your industry and title without giving your name or company. There are options to give your name or to be completely anonymous. Even if you upgrade, you will never really know 100% of the people who viewed your profile because very few people actually show their name. I have devoted a section to this in “Display Your Footprint?” in Chapter 10.

      The “Groups You Might Like” module may appear below the “Who’s Viewed My Profile?” module. I say “may” because I have never seen it on my Home Page, but other LinkedIn users have told me this module exists. I am assuming this is similar to the “People You May Know” module, so this may prove useful to you.

      The remaining modules you display here can all be customized and deleted by pressing the “x” button on the top right hand corner of the module. They can be edited by pressing the “edit” button to the left of the “x” button, and minimized by pressing the downward arrow key on the top left-hand corner of each module. Furthermore, the ability to add modules can be found at the bottom of this right-hand section via the “+ Add an Application” button. This fooled me for the longest time, because in addition to adding an actual Application to your profile (covered in Chapter 8: Applications), you can also add actual modules.

      Your choice of non-Application modules here is essentially a category of “Answers” or “Job Search.”

      Within “Answers” is the opportunity to place several modules on your Home Page, one for each of the tens of categories and sub-categories that exist for Answers. We will discuss this in Chapter 7: Answers, but you may want to play around and browse categories that interest you by selecting “Answers” and then seeing the categories that are on display.

      The “Job Search” module, while rudimentary, will allow you to search for a title near a certain location. This may or may not be useful, depending on your title, location and situation.

      In my experience, I have been limited to displaying no more than 12 modules, not including the Direct Ad and the “Who’s Viewed My Profile?” module.

      Finally, we come to the section at the very bottom of the page which contains four rows of selections titled “Company,” “Tools,” “Premium”; the final row contains your standard User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Copyright Policy, along with a feedback area just below that. I would call this area the “Reference” section because it contains valuable information and tools that will foster a more efficient and well-informed LinkedIn experience. The sections here that I believe you will find valuable are:

      •“Customer Service” is your one-stop support shop for anything to do with LinkedIn.

      •“Learning Center” gives you more basic information about the different features