Linking In

I’ve been playing with LinkedIn extensively, going through contacts of contacts for people I knew and particularly wanted to add, searching names, and issuing invites to people who already were in the system.  Suddenly I’m up to 11 connections, with 13 outstanding invitations, plus a pair that bounced.

It’s been fascinating.

People I would have thought reticent about linking with me, who might be called more obscure, or whose reaction to seeing the invitation might have been “who?” were accepting with rapid fire enthusiasm.  Other people closer or more obvious are waiting still.  Not that it’s a blanket rule.  There are some really unexpected choices, including a contact from Microsoft from when I did VB support.  He probably won’t even remember me.

I found my first supervisor from when I did Word support in 1994.  We’d fallen out of contact several years ago.  He accepted right away.  Another guy from the same company and dating back as far not only accepted immediately, but sent me a “how’s it going” e-mail that awaits my reply.

I was telling Deb about another guy who was unexpected in his response.  I was in VB support a long time before he started.  He was excellent, but rather unassuming.  I nudged him along, and between that and his special interest in an area that nobody else knew much about, he rapidly became a mentor.  That is, one of the people the support person you’re talking to puts you on hold to consult for extended information or added perspective.  Then he left to do programming work, which was great, but within a year or two all contact was lost.  I always thought it might be his preference.  He responded promptly when I found and invited him, and has already reconnected through me to another former colleague.

As I was typing this, an even less expected former colleague, whom I last worked with in 1995 or perhaps 1996, and last saw a couple or three years later, at a science fiction convention, accepted my invitation.

Another one is the attorney, a sole practitioner, for whom I did the least work of any attorney I charged.  I also did some freebies, like upgrading printer memory for the small firm in the office beside mine.  I’ve had no contact with him for perhaps four years, though he does share office space with my brother’s divorce attorney.  He’s the reason I have a little experience with Amicus Attorney case management software.  I found he was listed and invited him, but would have been completely unsurprised if he didn’t accept.  Silly me; almost immediate.  Cool!

I’ve only invited one blogger so far.  I’ve looked up a few others, though.  That can be interesting.

1. So LinkedIN is for real? I got one invite, from someone whose name I didn’t recognize, and just ignored it as spam. I guess I’ll pay more attention if it comes around again.

   Posted by triticale  on  09/07  at  02:34 PM  from  the you know house

2. Of course you neglected to mention that I reached out to you on LinkedIn but that’s OK ... I’m not hurt or upset ... really I’m not ...

   Posted by  on  09/07  at  03:39 PM  from 
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