Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

LinkedIn Etiquette: Five Dos and Don'ts

Creating a useful LinkedIn profile, and knowing how to interact with your connections on the professional social network, isn't always as straightforward as it seems.
Page:

Building a strong profile on LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, has taken on greater importance as the economy slips deeper into a recession. What information you decide to include, or exclude, could affect future job opportunities as well as your overall identity on the public internet.

Although LinkedIn doesn't pose the same reputation perils presented by Facebook — such as being tagged in photo albums or being victimized by random comments left on your profile — the pitfalls of a poorly constructed LinkedIn profile, or employing bad LinkedIn etiquette, can alienate your contacts (known as "connections"). It can also turn away potential employers interested in hiring you.

We caught up with Kirsten Dixson, a reputation management and online identity expert, who helped us with our Five Dos and Don'ts for maintaining proper Facebook etiquette to get her tips on proper LinkedIn etiquette. Why you should be the driver, but not the owner of business case ROI.

1. Profile Picture

Saying your LinkedIn profile picture should appear "professional" states the obvious. But more specifically, Dixson says paying a professional photographer to give you a few headshots to choose from is worth the modest investment because your picture is one the first things people will notice on your LinkedIn page.

Do some research online to find a photographer near you. You should be able to hire one, Dixson estimates, for $200-250 who can get the job done well. Remember: this is a modest investment when you consider how many professional contacts — some of whom you know, some of whom you don't — will view your LinkedIn profile.

If you don't get a professional photograher, you want to keep a fairly neutral background with very good lighting. Dixson says people do use Photoshop to eliminate wrinkles or unflattering features, but be careful: future employers will want to meet you in person for an interview and that picture will set their expectations for what you look like. While this is not supposed to matter, we all know it does.

Lastly, on the issue of timeliness, it can be tempting to leave pictures up of your younger and perhaps better-looking self. Dixson says while you don't need to update your picture every year, it should still match up pretty well with your current appearance.

"If people are going to meet you and be suprised by the difference, it's time to get a new one," she says.

Page:

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: etwork, Facebook, Google, IBM

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: LinkedIn, social networking
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Networking Strategy Guide
    Articles include: IPv6 guide; How to get more out of Ethernet switches; High-speed Ethernet planning guide; Next-generation firewalls: In depth; How to lock down your wireless network. Read this Computerworld Networking Strategy Guide.
    Learn more »
  • Setting a strategy for secure mobile printing
    Where, when and how we work is changing. Increasingly, we’re doing business on the road, at the office without a dedicated workstation and from our home offices. A 2010 InfoTrends survey of more than 1,400 mobile knowledge workers in Brazil, Germany, India, Japan and the U.S. echoes this trend. Respondents reported spending, on average, more than half of their time away from hard-wired network access. Implementing an effective strategy to make printing secure and simple for employees—regardless of where those employees happen to be—can help reduce security risks. Read more.
    Learn more »
  • Cloud printing in the enterprise: liberating the mobile print experience from cables, operating systems and physical boundaries
    In recent years mobile technology has proliferated throughout the enterprise. Today, virtually no one in the workforce is bound to a desk to work, check e-mail or communicate with co-workers and customers. At the same time, we’re seeing the rise of cloud technologies, loosely defined as online resources, often provided as a service, that manage the data and software that used to run solely on PCs. This merger of mobile and cloud technologies is on its way to becoming one of most significant enablers of business productivity and innovation seen in the past decade. Read more.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments