It appears that LinkedIn has been working to take down most of these bogus profiles since it was called out by Trend Micro on Monday (1/5/09). (If you go Google “Salma Hayek LinkedIn” you will see that the page did exist but is no longer available.) Good move as this kind of activity by spammers, malware authors, and other cybercriminals raises many legal issues including social media cybersquatting and possible defamation and trademark claims.

The Tip is to create a LinkedIn group, that does not yet exist, but that should exist. The key to this strategy is coming up with a group that people are going to want to be a part of. For example, recently I realized that my alma-mater law school (The University of Alabama School of Law) did not have a group on LinkedIn. This surprised me as most of the large schools do have at least one group with many members. So, I decided to create the University of Alabama School of Law Alumni Group. In just over 2 weeks I have had 16 requests to join, so as of today our group is 17 members strong. Until today I had done NOTHING to promote this group. Other LinkedIn members simply searched for this group expecting to find it. However, now that I have a decent number of members in the group I am going to actively work to take things to the next level. Today, I distributed a simple email to my law school email list inviting all alums to join my group. I am hopeful that we have about 100 members by the start of 2009. This group will most likely be several hundred members strong by the middle of next year.

So, what is the point? Are you kidding? Hundreds of lawyers, working at dozens of firms and companies (which all need Internet marketing) who now know and interact with me on a semi-regular basis. Go create a LinkedIn group, that does not yet exist, but that should exist. I guarantee you people will join. This is one of the few “Field of Dreams” opportunities on the Internet. Build it and they will come.

Connect With Matt Siltala On LinkedIn

If you have not been back to LinkedIn lately to check out your account, or add the people who have connected with you, its time.  I am giving you this friendly reminder because LinkedIn has recently added some pretty cool new applications to their service that make it even better for you to get the word out about who you are, as well as connect with even more.

Newly Added LinkedIn Applications added:

• Huddle Workspaces -  I have not really used this application much, but I can see the benefit.
• Reading List by Amazon – Share the books you are reading and like, and see what other people in your industry (and who are just like you) are reading and get some pretty good ideas what your next read should be.  I have already got some pretty good suggestions from people I am connected with.
• Add your WordPress Feed – The RSS feed of your WordPress Blog is dumped right into your profile.  I wish on this one they would let you chose something other then a WordPress.com blog, but still a useful application, and just makes you keep your wordpress.com blog more up to date!
• My  Travel -  Not used this at all and would love to hear some feedback from folks who have.  Andy Beal? Your wife used this at all on her Hawaii Travel Guide site?
• LinkedIn Polls – Great tool for getting feedback in your industry.  Polls are great, and everyone I know fills them out and the information gained can really be a useful tool.  I have used polls on many occasions to help me get a better idea of what products to promote and generally what people are in the mood for during different seasons.
• Slideshare Presentations – This is a great tool for all of those who present at conferences and giving those who you are connected with the access to your slideshows.  I really am going to be taking more advantage of this application in the future.
• Company Buzz – When it works (keep working on it fellas) its an amazing tool that tracks the buzz on Twitter according to what buzz you are wanting to keep track of!
• Google Presentation – More slideshow resources via Google where you can share your PPT presentations.
• Blog Link – This is pretty cool and pulls from the blogs of all the people you are connected with.  It gives you access to amazing content and people that you may have forgotten you are connected with.  It is also a good replacement reader.  If you think about all the blogs you go back and forth to, and all the reading you do (if you are like me) then you will find this feature most amazing and useful.  There are some people I am connected with (actually many) that are not on Twitter so this helps me stay up to date with the things they are blogging about – that alone this application is worth it.
• Box.net Files – never used the service but have heard its amazing from those who have, and that they really find it useful!

I know these features are nothing brand new, but if you have not been back to LinkedIn in some time, then it will be worth re-visiting.  I had decided to make this post because I got asked the question yesterday by a neighbor if LinkedIn would be a good network to join, and wanted some general explanation as to what it was.  He is a subscriber to my blog now, and I hope he finds it even more useful now!

Just added yesterday LinkedIn announced a new search platform.  This is just another one of the many reasons you need to be checking back often and using your LinkedIn account.  They are always doing everything they can to make the way we connect with other professionals in our industry easier.

If you have not connected with me on LinkedIn – Please feel free to do so here: