On Friday, I listened to an awesome interview.

Ron Bates is a Headhunter, Executive Search Consultant & Recruiter based
in San Francisco, USA. He’s also widely known as LinkedIn’s most-connected
user - with around FORTY THOUSAND direct Connections. Ron was saying he
was spending 1 to 2 hours A WEEK managing them!

Gosh! I was spending more than that networking with my
300+ ‘Friends’ on Facebook!

And it gets better. His network is COMPLETELY business
related. The folks in his group add DIRECTLY to his
bottom line.

Not like Facebook.

Because Facebook, in essence, is for KIDS!

* Look, I’ve got more ‘friends’ than you!

* Hey, I OWN you now!

* I *poked* you - now poke me back!

VERY professional, right? NOT!

Facebook was designed for kids in college.

It was intended to appeal to their tastes, interests and
ATTENTION SPANS!

College and school kids are curious. Have time to waste.
Follow trends, explore new things, are pretty much NOT
focused.

That’s appropriate for their age.

But a serious business owner or entrepreneur or professional
finds Facebook distracting. There are too many ‘rabbit
holes’ to go down and see.

And unless you know how to avoid that, you could waste
hours and hours and HOURS!

Mari Smith’s guide, “Facebook for Professionals” is of
great help in staying focused on the ‘right’ things at
FB - but it requires IRON WILL and discipline to follow
that sensible advice.

That’s why I’ve refrained from telling you about Facebook
until now. I explored it once in June 2007. And put it
through the paces again for the last 2 weeks. I like
it a little more - but it is STILL a waste of time!

Don’t get me wrong…

Facebook has a place in your social media portfolio -
but for business connections, I’ll take the ADULT
version any day… it is called

L I N K E D * I N

I created my profile on LinkedIn yesterday. See it here

I read Guy Kawasaki’s excellent guide to making the
most of LinkedIn.

I’m growing my connections - and invite you to join
my network - if you think it will add value to your
BUSINESS.

There’s very little to DISTRACT you on Linked In.
I like that. It is NOT a socializing tool, it’s a
NETWORKING tool. All the benefits, none of the
wasteful time and effort.

You can recommend people, connect with them, find
new contractors, partners and business contacts.

I do NOT know for sure that it will help you. I’m
too new to LinkedIn to say that. But I spent 3
hours setting things up and starting to network -
so that’s how much I believe in the potential.

Take a look. See if it’s right for you. And
believe me, it is NOT as distracting or time
wasting as Facebook - or even my favorite social
media app, the powerful people-connector…

TWITTER

I’ll wait for you to get LinkedIn to my network soon

Guy’s article about optimizing your LinkedIn profile
may be useful too.

See mine - and join my network - click here.

You’ll have to sign in to your account, then visit
the link above, and click the button near the top
right hand corner called “Contact Directly” -
and send me an invitation to join your network.

Once I approve it, we are ‘connected’.

Or LINKED IN!