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

and delve deeply into those areas that I believe will be of the most value to readers. While the book may not be 100% comprehensive, I have tried my best to provide detailed and unique insight into all of the latest features of LinkedIn that are relevant to you as a user. For instance, I purposefully do not go into length about features that are part of the paid service, nor do I explore utilizing optional toolbars. As the wording implies, these are not features that everyone uses (you may have a free account) or has access to (you may use the unsupported Google Chrome for your Internet browsing and/or use Gmail instead of Outlook for email management).

      The final sections of the book offer strategic tips you can use to leverage the power of LinkedIn. I also provide closing commentary that will give you additional food for thought about how to make LinkedIn and social media work for you.

      First-time or limited LinkedIn users will get the most out of this book; however, there are enough tips that I recommend any experienced LinkedIn user read this book from cover to cover. I have sprinkled even the basic sections with information I have gleaned from my thousands of hours utilizing LinkedIn. The data I have gathered through my personal experiences will provide insight, even for heavy LinkedIn users. Most importantly, the attitude I want to instill in LinkedIn users through covering the concepts of Windmill Networking will be invaluable to even the most advanced LinkedIn user.

      Finally, if you have not connected with me yet, please feel free to send me an invitation through my profile at:

      http://www.linkedin.com/in/nealschaffer

      Thank you and hope to connect with you soon!

      A Social Networking Primer

      Human beings are social animals. I don’t pretend to be an expert in the field, but it is pretty evident that people like to meet up and communicate with each other. It feels good to connect and help others. Seeing my own little children makes me realize that socializing and social networking begins very early in life. It is apparent that social networking is a basic human function.

      How then does social networking evolve as we grow up? How has technology influenced the social networking world? Within this social networking world, where does social media like LinkedIn fit in?

      The strongest network that we create in our lives is our own families and caretakers. As children, we rely on our parents, or those who are raising us, for everything. They are the first members of the network that we create, and although we tend to distance ourselves from this network as we enter our teenage years, the extended family often becomes our most valuable network for advice and support throughout our lives.

      Going beyond the family network, we go through school creating an extended circle comprising classmates and friends. Through this network, we are able to fulfill our needs for emotional support, entertainment, company, and advice. Some people move during their school years and have to then recreate their network in each neighborhood and school. By the time we graduate from high school, we have already created a group of friends that often become our most valuable networking contacts for life.

      For those who go on to a college or to a university, this network continues to grow, adding new classmates and acquaintances. Just as your high school years give you a strong network of friends, the same can be said for your college years.

      After graduating, some meet new people in a variety of ways—through work, community or professional associations, new neighborhoods, and introductions through friends. We often befriend parents of our children’s classmates as well. Some people end up greatly enlarging their networks, especially if their work environment is a large, socially stimulating environment. If their career requires them to be networkers, within sales, for instance, networks expand even more rapidly.

      An interesting thing happens upon entering the work force. Until we begin working, our networks are continually growing as we meet new people in new classes and at social gatherings; however, the trend begins to diminish as we grow older. Some people simply do not invest the time to keep in touch with old friends and colleagues and have lost contact. Others work at smaller companies or have occupations that do not allow them to interact with many people. Growing a family makes some of us more insular. For whatever reason, there are many people whose networks primarily rely on old college and high school friends.

WindMill WISDOM Regardless of the size of our networks, it is important to realize the following: •We all have networks •We are all natural networkers •Social networking is not some difficult thing to comprehend—it is a basic human function

      Every time we ask a friend for advice we are, in essence, networking. Networking should come naturally to all of us once we realize this fact.

      Over the past 20 years, as new jobs are created in the centers of population that we know as megacities across the United States, people tend to be more spread out and move to where opportunity lies. This is by no means a new phenomenon. The advent of more convenient transportation alternatives and the lower cost and greater quality of telecommunications services has allowed us to be further spread out across the country—all while keeping in good touch with our networks.

      Similarly, with the explosive growth of the Internet over the last 20 years, we can not only stay in better touch with our network, but we can actually create a new “virtual” network with people that we meet online. This is truly the era that has fostered the creation of Windmill Networking.

      My first experience with virtual networks was in the old chat rooms at AOL. I was blown away by the experience that I could discuss a topic that interested me from my computer, with a complete stranger. Those were the “wild west” days of social networking on the Internet. The potential for “virtual” networking to become mainstream was there, as younger generations became comfortable and adopted the technology.

      The MySpace and Facebook phenomenon are built upon this technology, with younger generations creating vast virtual networks based on similar hobbies or common interests in things like gaming or music. As with social networking, most people start out by creating their home page on either site, adding their favorite photos, music, etc. to share with their close friends. These networks tend to grow to include “virtual” members who they have never met personally. This growth helps create virtual communities where people are interacting in ways that are not possible in a physical world. People from different countries who have never met before can play interactive role-playing games, engage in real-time discussions, and share photos at the same time.

      Social groups are a lot "looser" and more geographically dispersed than they used to be. The Internet and all of its related technologies, combined with social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, have given people a chance to connect to others with similar interests, regardless of how well they know them or where they live. It is only a matter of time before this looseness extends to the professional networking world.

      We are pioneers at the tip of the iceberg. We are extending the future boundaries of professional social networking by utilizing LinkedIn to execute Windmill Networking. Networking in person is ideal; however, reaching out online through a virtual network is the only way to network across the globe when you cannot physically meet someone. A key to being successful is to refuse to limit yourself geographically nor to a narrow group of people you already know.

      For me, networking is a type of social insurance that everyone needs and you can never have enough of it. You never know when someone in your network, someone who may have never helped you out before, can provide invaluable advice or connections during a time of need. The more diverse your network is, the higher the likelihood that someone will give you advice for your particular situation. Although your current physical network of friends/family is also a great source for advice, it is limited in size and may lack the type of real-life experience that applies to your situation.

      Going beyond the “Internet Era,” MySpace and Facebook have begun the User-Generated Content (UGC) revolution that defines our Web 2.0 era.