LinkedIn Profiles: Are you a Blogger?
I have a random question for the audience today. Do you have a LinkedIn profile? Do you list your blog/podcast/other on-line entity as a position in your profile? Why, or why not?
Personally, I do list this blog on my profile, because it’s part of my professional persona. This is the place where I can highlight what I know, and a little bit of how I work, and find solutions. This is the place you can get much more insight into me as a professional than any one or two page resume could give you, so I want it to be part of my profile when I’m doing professional networking.
On the other hand, I use other social networking services, like Facebook and Myspace mostly just as a conduit for the RSS feeds generated by writing here, or Twitter, because I want people who know me there to be able to see what I’m up to, but I don’t really want to get bogged down in trying to spend a lot of time there updating my profiles. (I spend time looking at other’s profiles to see what my friends are up to who only use those services, and on certain groups I belong to, so I get value even without a lot of upkeep!)
So far, that system seems to work for me, but I can’t help but wonder how many people consider their blogs/podcasts to be part of their professional life, or how many try to keep them separate?
I do have my blog listed on my LinkedIn profile (http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenvore) though I don’t list “blogger” as one of my positions or professions. I figure (and know from experience) that people will find me – “all of me that’s out there” – so I figure there’s no point in hiding it. Besides, some times my blog posts are relevant to my “real” jobs.