Last Friday and this past Monday the stock market took major hits. Yesterday it came back. One of the biggest losers was LinkedIn which some say was overvalued. While I am not all that knowledgeable when it comes to company valuations I have been using LinkedIn more and more and with great success.
The main reason I consider it a success is that people respond to inquiries on LinkedIn more than any other social networking portal I have used.

An article in DM News http://bit.ly/pMMuZF highlights increases in LinkedIn’s revenue – and it was from Friday August 5th shortly before the stock took a pounding.

My work in developing our China business requires expertise far beyond that of my regular circle of contacts. LinkedIn has offered me a way to engage total strangers by asking for help, offering help and simply offering my opinion on something they might have written or said. What continually surprises me is the rate of return on what I consider to be a very minor investment.

Of course not all my inquiries are responded to. And I know I need to be careful since there is a rating system on LinkedIn such that if enough people complain about being spammed or contacted inappropriately you can be blacklisted from making outreaches to people you don’t know using a feature on LinkedIn called ‘Inmail’.

But I am here to tell you that if you are not using the Premium or Pro access on LinkedIn you are missing out on opportunities to connect with people in way that has never before been possible. However I do wonder how long this open-networking will last. If people begin to be deluged with requests from all over the map the opportunity conduit that LinkedIn offers may well become unworkable and unusable.

In case you are wondering I try to be as open as possible myself when it comes to answering questions posed to me on LinkedIn. I also receive offers to Link In with people I don’t know but my policy is to not Link In with total strangers. Yet answering a question for a total stranger (provided it is a relevant question and something that I can help with) is something I always agree to do.

I believe LinkedIn is the best of all the social networks in offering a value proposition. Yes better than Facebook and better than Google+ (which is on the rise as far as I am concerned).

How about you – are you getting everything out of LinkedIn that you could? Or do you think it’s too much trouble and a waste of time?