The Star Reviews team was discussing the importance of networking around the water cooler the other day. Surprisingly, a few of us had to admit that we'd never really taken the online business networking websites seriously. After all, what can a website offer that local and national business organizations can't? To sum it up in two words – a lot. When the team decided to dig in and compare business networking websites, we were humbled by the sheer power of these lean, mean networking machines. However, not all are created equally. Read this review to find out how LinkedIn measured up to the competition.
What's New?
- Post a job opening on the LinkedIn website.
- Find old classmates as well as colleagues
- Interactive Q&A forum
Star Reviews' Favorite Feature:
We really like the fact that you can search the LinkedIn network for colleagues you have lost touch with. Just enter the name of the company you used to work for and the dates you worked there. While we personally didn't get any results, the LinkedIn network is growing every day.
About LinkedIn:
LinkedIn, headquartered in Mountain View, California, is one of the larger business networking sites on the Web, boasting more than 14 million members around the world. They're dedicated to helping members find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners to further their business and career goals.
The LinkedIn Experience:
When you first hit the LinkedIn website, you'll be asked to provide the name of the school you attended or your employer. Since we're interested in networking for career purposes we chose to go the business route. We were then taken to a page to set up our LinkedIn networking account.
The form wasn't hard to fill out at all. The site asked for personal info such as our name and education details. Then we got to sort through a checklist of things we'd like to get out of our LinkedIn membership, such as industry information, access to resumes and/or joint venture information. This in itself was very interesting and allowed us to get a feel for what we'd be getting from our relationship with LinkedIn.
It literally took less than three minutes and our LinkedIn account was up and running – or so we thought. The first thing we noticed was the “10 People You Should Connect With Now” link. Click on “See Who” and you're supposed to be brought to a page that connects you to 10 other LinkedIn members that match your profile interests. If you're running on Windows Vista, however, that's not what's going to happen.
Regardless of what OS you're running on, LinkedIn is going to install some software onto your PC so you can utilize their “profile matching” service. If you're running on Windows 2000 or XP, it might be smooth sailing after the software is installed. If you're running on anything else (such as Vista or a Mac) you're going to have to search manually, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the site to begin with.
Not only must you be using either Windows 2000 or Windows XP to run LinkedIn's Software, you also must have Microsoft Outlook set as your default mail client. Many of their customers may run into trouble, as Outlook is primarily an office-run email program.
That being said, you can indeed search their site manually. But that kind of defeats the purpose. While the site isn't exactly hard to navigate, it will take a long time to actually build a network. Unless you meet the LinkedIn requirements (Windows XP or 2000 and Outlook as a default mail client) or you have hours to spend digging through the mess and navigating the maze that LinkedIn becomes, you might want to take a look at some of the other business networking sites on the Web.
LinkedIn Pricing:
A basic membership to LinkedIn is free. If you do meet the technical requirements necessary to run the LinkedIn software and you really believe that LinkedIn is the network for you, you might want to consider upgrading to one of the paid options since the basic account is limited in its search abilities.
A LinkedIn Business Membership costs $19.95 per month and includes:
- 15 introduction requests at a time
- Use InMail to contact users directly 3 times per month
- 100 network search results each month
A LinkedIn BusinessPlus Membership costs $50 per month and includes:
- 50 introduction requests at a time
- Use InMail to contact users directly 10 times per month
- 150 network search results each month
LinkedIn Customer Support:
When it comes to reviewing LinkedIn's customer support, we're kind of torn. On the one hand, there's this awesome Q&A forum where members can ask one another questions and give answers. From the browsing we did on the forums, it seems that members are happy to jump in and help one another. However, we're not sure if we can really count this as customer service since it's the member base giving the support – not the company. LinkedIn's direct customer support is only available via a webmail form, and we didn't even get a response to the question we sent in. If you don't mind relying on other members for help, LinkedIn isn't a bad place to be. If you want direct support from the company however, you might find yourself in a bit of a dilemma.
Upside:
Free basic accounts, great interactive Q&A forum, large volume of members to network with.
Downside:
Not user friendly at all.
Summary:
We have mixed feelings regarding the LinkedIn experience. While they are well-established (with 14 million members worldwide, to be exact) they aren't very user-friendly. We'll put this shortly-to use their profile matching system, you're going to have to have some of their software installed. The problem? We faced alot of issues with compatibility, and Microsoft Office Outlook has to be your default mail client (it's not for many of us). Unless you meet the LinkedIn OS requirements (Windows XP or 2000) you will definitely face some problems when using a Mac or Vista, for example.
However, if you are able to sign up and install everything correctly, we think LinkedIn has alot to offer. For instance, you can scope out old colleagues by typing in the company name and dates you worked for them. You can also search for members manually through their network if you please. There are plenty of forums and Q&A message boards if you need any help, but when we sent a customer support inquiry via webform, we didn't hear back. We think LinkedIn could definitely improve.