For me, LinkedIn is my “home base” when it comes to social media sites.

Tonight I pay tribute to the social media site that offers me so much.

I became active on LinkedIn exactly 4 years ago this month, the same month I got active on Facebook.

What drew me to LinkedIn, and what still keeps me anchored there, is the opportunity to network professionally with people from all over the world.

Here are 5 reasons why LinkedIn works for me:

  1. I have been able to learn from a variety of experts through the Groups feature, the Answers feature, and through what I find in my Newsfeed.
  2. I have been able to offer my knowledge, expertise and insights, especially on matters relating to social media.
  3. Through the Endorsements and Recommendations features, people who can provide testimonials and acknowledgements about what I have to offer as a social media tutor. Similarly, I can do the same for my LinkedIn connections using these features.
  4. When I find someone whom I want to get to know better, I can search them on LinkedIn and find out specifics about them.
  5. I can reconnect with former co-workers, managers, folks from organizations I was active in, and even people from my high school years and keep up to date with them professionally.

To me, LinkedIn is especially important for young people just stepping out into the professional world, and certainly for job seekers.

Yet, all of us are potentially a job seeker and perhaps stepping out into a different professional world than the one we are in today. We all need to have an engaging professional presence in cyberspace. What better place to do that than on LinkedIn?

If you haven’t gotten involved in LinkedIn, check it out at www.linkedIn.com and while you are there, be sure to extend me an invite to connect with you. Just go to www.linkedin.com/in/joycefeustel/

Then click on Connect and select the option of “Friend.” You may be prompted to enter my email address, and that address is: joycefeustel@comcast.net

How do you like to use LinkedIn? How does it connect with other social media platforms you use?

Joyce Feustel, Founder of Boomers’ Social Media Tutor, helps people relatively new to social media to become more effective and comfortable in their use of this medium. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com