[adityak7]

Guess I am in the minority here, but I find LinkedIn useful. The platform provides a lot of things and its up to the people to find out what they need from it. I log in once a week

Personally, I use it for the following

• Look up the people I encounter in the professional life before meeting them, It gives me a soft introduction and probably a few speaking points for the actual meeting
• I use it while applying for jobs. Applying on job boards barely gets you a response as your resume gets lost amongst thousands of similar profiles. I search for people/HR in the company and reach out to them asking if they can help me with a referral. The competition is lesser that way and it had worked for me the last couple of times I made a switch
• Keep tabs on my network and see who has moved to which company, you never know when your friend could move to your dream organization and can help you move there
• Keeps me connected with my institute alumni which is another easy way to get referrals

[chaudh2s]

I don't even have an account on Linkedin and for that matter neither on Instagram, Twitter, or any other social networking sites. Just 1 dormant account on facebook.
But, I love my actual life and never miss living virtually or showing off.

[rajesh1868]

I had subscribed to premium about a year back when I was in search of a job. Nothing great.
I unsubscribed as soon as I landed a job.
When an interview was scheduled, if the name of the interviewer was provided before hand, I used to check their profile to have an understanding about their background. This has not helped me in anyway but this is something I will still use in future if needed.

[SoumenD]

I use it while looking for a job and ofcourse to keep in touch with ex-colleagues. Not a regular FB or insta user anymore as those platforms are full of useless junk. Heck, lately even LinkedIn is becoming just like that with people posting motivational articles/quotes often which is so irritating. When I was looking for a job, registered for the paid service for a month(1st month is free). But turned out my professional network of ex-colleagues(again through LinkedIn contact) helped me way better than those postings wherein I never even got a call(applied for 15-20 postings).

Liked it earlier because of the garbage-less experience. But now it's limited to only keep a tab on developments in my technology. Oh and there are a plethora of useful webinars (again work related) which I can pick and choose. For example I have one today evening which if not for linkedin I wouldn't have known.

[ant_vas]

LinkedIn is the only SM account i still have having quit Twitter,FB, Insta etc last year.

I use Linkedin to mainly to see the job openings and profile of connections.

Most of the people are tech evangelists there and others have to share their thoughts to the world via LinkedIn platform.

As to how useful it has been for me? none so far! But you never know when someone can get a good reference for a deal or a job

[Sanjeev911]

I do make active use of it. Of late, I have been posting motivational articles on the platform on a weekly basis. To keep away from the endless scrolling of FB or Insta over photos & Videos, LinkedIn does help to improve your professional network.

[palsaumik]

Let me answer this from a corporate level + personal standpoint.

For the IT company I work with, LinkedIn is a huge go-to-platform to run relationship analytics, build relationship heat maps, run social campaigns and more. In fact, our consulting division have dedicated experts to do all these and more.

On a personal level, I use LinkedIn to look at my customers' profiles before I meet them while my wife, as a senior recruiter, leverages this platform to reach out to highly skilled but niche-technology experienced candidates for recruitment.

[Jeroen]

I am and have been on LinkedIn for ever. But I can’t say I use it much.

It used to be primarily around networking, job wise. These days it is also used to share information in general. We are using it for some of our corporate messages etc. I see some folks being very active. Using as if it is Facebook/Twitter almost.

I find it useful to look up some people. Especially candidates that come to interview. What I find super irritating is to get invites from people I don’t know at all, or hardly. Working for a huge international company is a bit of practical problem too, because so many colleagues want to link up. As long as we are in the same company I don’t see much value in that at all.

I would prefer to use it for my external network only, but to some extend you need to be courteous to colleagues as well. And of course, people do leave the company and end up external. It’s a useful tool to stay in touch, or rather to get in touch with people you knew in your professional past.

Jeroen

[VWguy]

I am on Linkedin since 8 years, but I have been benefitting from it since last 3-4 years. With due respect to all the opinions, I want to put my views on LinkedIn.

Pros:
1. It surely is a great channel to network and seek help/guidance from industry professionals.
E.g. I'm doing MBA right now, and I have been able to connect and take help of my undergrad and MBA college alumni for industry research projects. They are undoubtedly the best source of primary data. And for me almost all alumni have responded and showed the willingness to help. This motivates me to continue the trend of extending help when my juniors need my support in future.
2. Help for career guidance. I search alumni and other professionals who are in the career i want to pursue and connect with them. This helps me take their input and I get to know about their journey- struggles and preferences.
3. I have got work on side projects through a few of the marketing messages. Not all of them are useless. Some of them are relevant.
4. It is an easy way to understand the organization structure of your clients. Helped me during my internship.
5. One can always check where some of their old peers are faring professionally.

Cons:
1. Recently the feed section has become a more like show off field, which ads no value and wastes time.

Final opinion: I feel just like not everyone benefits by FB/Insta because they don't serve their purpose, LinkedIn is not for everyone. For those who knows the value of LinkedIn and how it is beneficial for them, they are there using it and visiting almost daily. So, we can say that the number of individuals registered on LinkedIn is not the correct representation of true users and beneficieries of LinkedIn.

[am1m]

I'd say at this point, the advantage gained during a job search by having a profile on LinkedIn is much smaller compared to the disadvantage of not having one and being seen as 'someone who does not even have a profile on LinkedIn' by potential recruiters. (If that makes sense.)

[RBR]

Well, I consider LinkedIn to be really helpful and valuable compared to FB or Twitter or Insta for that matter (no offences, please).

For professional reasons and to make new connections, LinkedIn has been a great help to me. Off late, I have found the L&D and Jobs sections to be quite resourceful.

[rajesh1868]

Forgot to add to my earlier post, LinkedIn also helps in getting in touch with old colleagues, the ones you may never have exchanged your number but you are familiar with. Extremely helpful when searching for a job.

[dileepcm]

I am a regular member for long time.
I scroll through the feed probably 2-3 times a week and very occasionally end up reading some articles - that's pretty much the current way of use.
Having said, I found my second job through Linked-in and I must say, job seekers and employers really use Linked-in a lot here in Netherlands based on my experience.
Whenever I get involved in an interview for a newcomer, my HR always shares the linked in profiles of candidates - It almost feels like a standard practice (At-least in my org or may be even in whole of Netherlands).

[nikhilarni]

Very interesting post.

On the face of it, it's more of a passive platform social media platform of a more formal nature.

I'll be honest here, I have never been offered a job through LinkedIn or anything like that, but its helped me in the below ways

1. Following some good thought leaders and their discussion points surely broadens our spectrum of thought and processes. Also, the articulation of their messaging and content is something I always try to learn from.
2. I use it to look up the person I am meeting as part of pre-sales and interviews
3. Product Launches in the tech space. Without naming any brand here, I am in the digital marketing space with expertise in the Campaign Automation and Decision Analytics. I follow the products, features and related content in those areas. It is another way of keeping abreast with the latest trends.
4. There are some closed / restricted user groups where topics and issues are discussed. Those have been helpful, getting responses to issues I have faced.

I am not a premium member and would like to hear thoughts from T-Bhpians on it. Is is worth it or not ?

[vb-saan]

I do use LinkedIn – an easy tool to look up for people who you are newly meeting with at work, or coming in for job interviews. Another positive use is to get notified when some of your ex-colleagues move roles. Other than that it is pretty much a pseudo-intellectual’s Facebook.