How does LinkedIn work?

jasonmarke: How does LinkedIn work?
How does LinkedIn work and what is the difference between an “introduction “and a direct email???

Answers and Views:

Answer by jorim
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a little strange, but I ignored it. However, when the waiter brought out water and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket, then looked around the room and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets.

When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, “Why the spoon?”
“Well,” he explained, “the restaurant’s owners hired Anderson Consulting, experts in efficiency, in order to revamp all our processes. After several months of statistical analysis, they concluded that customers drop their spoons 73.84 percent more often than any other utensil. This represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel is prepared to deal with that contingency, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.”

As luck would have it I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it with his spare spoon. “I’ll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.” I was rather impressed. The waiter served our main course and I continued to look around.

I then noticed that there was a very thin string hanging out of the waiter’s fly. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies. My curiosity got the better of me and before he walked off, I asked the waiter, “Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?”

“Oh, certainly!” he answered, lowering his voice. “Not everyone is as observant as you. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in the restroom.” “How so?” “See,” he continued, “by tying this string to the tip of you know what . . ., we can pull it out over the urinal without touching it and that way eliminate the need to wash the > hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent.”

“Okay, that makes sense, but…if the string helps you get it out, how do you put it back in?” “Well,” he whispered, lowering his voice even further, “I don’t know about the others, but I use the spoon.”

Answer by TradeMark Express
Here’s the info from their FAQ page:

1) “LinkedIn is a place to find and leverage professional opportunities, now and throughout your career. LinkedIn enables you to:

Present yourself and your professional capabilities
Find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates
Leverage powerful tools to find and reach the people you need
Build a powerful network of trusted professionals
Discover professional relationships and opportunities
Tap into inside connections and information
Get the edge that gives you competitive advantage

There are already 6 million professionals in the LinkedIn Network and that number is growing fast. Whether you seek a job, a hire, a reference, a sales lead, an expert, or an inside connection at one of 50,000 companies, LinkedIn is an irreplaceable resource for building your professional relationships and achieving your goals.”

2) “What is an Introduction?

Introductions let you contact or be contacted by LinkedIn users in your network through the people you know. In this way, your connections can introduce you to anyone in your network (or introduce them to you) by forwarding messages through a chain of trusted professionals.

For example, if you want to contact a LinkedIn user two degrees away, you could ask a mutual connection to forward an Introduction to them on your behalf. Your mutual connection would then choose whether to forward the Introduction to its intended recipient. Alternatively, you can contact any LinkedIn user directly via InMail. InMails can be purchased individually or as part of a premium account.”

3) “What methods are available for communicating with other LinkedIn users?

You can always contact your direct connections (people in the 1st degree of your network) directly via email. You can also send an invitation to connect to anyone (LinkedIn user or otherwise) for whom you have an email address.

Introductions
If you want to contact a LinkedIn user who is two or three degrees away from you, you can request an Introduction through one of your connections. Your connection will, in turn, decide whether to forward it on to the desired recipient (if in your 2nd degree) or to a shared connection (if in your 3rd degree). Additional Introductions (beyond the 5 provided with a free basic account) can be obtained by upgrading to a premium account.

InMails
InMails are private messages that enable you to directly contact any other LinkedIn user, while protecting the recipient’s privacy. If the recipient is not in your network, you will only see the recipient’s name and email address if the InMail message is accepted.

InMail is a paid feature that can be purchased as part of a premium account or individually.”

Hope that helps!