Ive now been reading that there are a couple of militant detractors of this site because some folks have been using it to SPAM and make "unsolicited" sales calls....

I guess that the bottom line is that, as many things out there, LinkedIN is not perfect, but from what Ive been experiencing so far, if you are cautious about who you add and, (more importantly) which others you allow to add youself to their network, it can be a powerful resource.

I'm there because someone invited me to join their network but don't visit the site much.

I just got a PM from an FTer asking for an invitation. I checked this FTer out and found that s/he has 1,300+ posts, some of them in "junk" threads like OMNI counting threads, but enough with real content to convince me that this was a legitimate request from a legitimate person who would in all likelihood use LinkedIn as intended.

(I declined anyhow, for reasons that are off-topic here, but that's not the point.)

However - I urge everyone here to check out requests carefully. FT is a public bulletin board. Anyone can register. Anyone can read this thread. Anyone can PM a poster in it. If you send an invitation to whoever does, you're connecting them to your network, potentially exposing your friends and (ex-)colleagues to unwanted electronic intrusions, etc. - for which they'll blame you.

You don't have to be as picky as I am about who you invite, but do a bit of "due diligence" checking of anyone who requests from here.

Good point. My rule of thumb on adds is that I will only add individuals who I have met personally and (beyond that) who I know a bit about as far as their business/professional life. LinkedIN is definitely a business (not social) networking site and its important to remember that our own reputations are affected by the company we supposedly keep.

I know of a few FTers who use LinkedIn.. I use it too.

Note: I do not put my current company name.. just a general description to keep recruiters from calling me.
If you have your company name and location in there.. its easy for them to guess your company's main line and ask
for you.

Have been on it since 2004 but I do choose my connections- thus I am only in the low double digits instead of 500+ that I see sometimes. It is mainly to stay in touch with old colleagues and members in my industry.

That's how I treat it. I've received requests from people that used to work for the same company I did, but if I don't remember them, I've asked them to clarify exactly how they know me. If they don't respond, then they're just looking for numbers (or my contacts), and I won't add them.

Is there some sort of tangible benefit in getting these increased numbers on LinkedIN...? Or is it just a post count thing like here on FT...?

I use infrequently

It's probably the latter. It seems that the folks with 500+ links are recruiters.

I use it as I was able to find a lost friend from college (it came up on a web search of his name), but on a very limited basis. A few current coworkers, a few ex-coworkers, a couple of friends from college.

I'm signed up, but I've never used it for any sort of actual business reason. All of my contacts (all of a dozen or so) are either former co-workers/friends from school that I'd fallen out of touch with and used this to get back in contact, or current co-workers who must have sent invites to everyone they knew in the company (why do I need to have you as a contact if I sit across the hall from you?).

I've been using it for close to 3 years. But I've been in the same industry since 1978, so networking is important.

I signed up for Xing but don't find "interests." Where is it?

I use facebook and got my entire family and friends on it... My former two employers have a huge network on it (over 50000 people each) so I was able to find lots of former colleagues.