COMPARING WITH OTHER BUSINESS NETWORKING SITES

After the stunning success of social networking sites, the business networking sites have taken the road for fast paced growth. Mention may be made of LinkedIn, spoke, plaxo whose combined following exceeds 100 million. These business networking sites may become the place for hiring new talents, finding a new job to switching careers. It is in this light that I say you have to have a presence in any one of the business networking site because that will undoubtedly enhance your prospect of climbing up the ladder.

Now that you have decided to join a business networking site the question is which one out of the several that are present. I think LinkedIn it’s the best option when it comes to business networking sites. Its enhanced features and the huge user base certainly helps better than the competitors who are as yet lagging behind.

The benefits that can be accrued are

1. It has a strong user base and they are mostly professionals. The chances of your finding a new job or anew acquaintance increases significantly in LinkedIn compared to spoke. Also the fact that it has such a wide user base means it will grow much faster than its rivals. The sooner you have a presence the better it is for your career.
2. LinkedIn has a gated access approach. This means that relation with a professional can be made only if you are known to them or through a preexisting mutual friend. This way a trust is built among the member professionals since each one of them can be vouched for. It is recommended for the same reason that you do not just add a random person for the contact because that will erode your respectability.
3. There are features such as LinkedIn answers. This feature is along the lines of yahoo answers and Google answers, in this you can put up a question for the community to answer. Since this is a business oriented you have to put up a professional question which can then be answered by any of the domain expert. You can use this feature to your significant advantage. If you are among the one who regularly provide good answers in a particular domain you earn the respect of fellow professionals and in LinkedIn world that could mean increased connections and opportunities.
4. Finally there are LinkedIn groups. You can search by the company name or school name and it will throw up the relevant results. This will help you reconnect with some of the old friends that you lost contact with and the employees of the previous employer. This increased connection means that there are more people who can vouch for you and increases your trustworthiness.

While some of these features may be available in its rivals such as spoke and plaxo but the fact is that LinkedIn has gone so far ahead in terms of user base that it is advantageous to have a presence in LinkedIn than in other networking sites.