CLSA and Linkedin

sako · Post by **sako** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:50 am

I just got an email from Linkedin saying that "CLSA sent you an invitation to become part of his or her professional network at LinkedIn"
I want to know if this is legit. Did anybody else get this email?

pls7809 · Post by **pls7809** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:01 am

I got it as well. It seemed legit to me. CLSA - Too Legit to Quit! That's their unofficial motto, right?

E_Page · Post by **E_Page** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:55 pm

Most likely legit. CLSA has a group on LinkedIn. If you're not familiar with LinkedIn, I guess the short over-simplified explanation is "Facebook for professionals". Unlike facebook, the discussions are (mostly) professional. It is a way to build a list of contacts useful to professional life.

Stephen Johnson · Post by **Stephen Johnson** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 4:52 pm

I have been on linkedin for several months. What I find interesting is I finally got on facebook because of a Daughter and Granddaughter that live in Houston and I am getting asked to be a friend to many surveyors all over the country. More actually than on LinkedIn.

SJ

Jim Frame · Post by **Jim Frame** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:55 pm

I've had a LinkedIn account for some years, but haven't found it very useful. I'm not big into professional networking though. I still haven't decided whether or not Facebook is worth the time I spend on it, but at least it tends to be entertaining. Twitter can be fun, as long as you target your follows properly.

I find this site and SurveyorConnect.com (aka BeerLeg.com) far more valuable than any of the above. (RPLS.com used to be great, but then came the ill-fated revamp that essentially destroyed it for me.)

.

E_Page · Post by **E_Page** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:52 am

I haven't made a lot of use of the contacts in LinkedIn yet either, but if I ever need or want to get in touch with any on my contacts list there, I have a way to do it. Another valuable thing with it is that if you ever change jobs (not an issue for you, Jim), you still have that contact list readily at your disposal as opposed to either having to export your contacts to a file to be translated to whatever new email system you go to (that if the employer you are leaving will allow it). I have come across some interesting discussions on LinkedIn, but you need to join some of the groups and have the option to receive updates from each group selected to be aware of them.

I have a facebook account, either because I got a couple of "friend" requests from people I know or at my wife's urging, or both. I don't recall anymore. I've never quite understood facebook or developed any interest in it. Whenever I look, it just appears to be a bunch of short comments representing an incredibly disjointed conversation where almost no one is talking to anyone in particular and no one is responding to any particular comment or person. That and the invitations to join some silly online game make no sense to me. If I could see it as a useful communication tool and knew how to filter out all the mindless fluff, I might have an interest. I mean, I really couldn't care less if the teenage daughter of a friend of a friend really had a great time at the mall with another friend of a kid of a friend. I'm obviously missing something there.

As far as the frequency of informative discussion, I agree with Jim there, I find more at this forum and SurveyorConnect. I take a look at RPLS once or twice a month but find little activity and very little useful discussion there anymore. A lot of it ends up being the same two guys turning a lot of the discussions into the same petty argument they always have. Same junk, different thread.

I think LinkedIn may still be in its ascendency. It seems like it would be a good tool for connecting with people of related professions, potential vendors, and potential clients, as well as with other surveyors.