Solo Practice

Is Facebook the Ultimate Business Networking Tool?

By The Greatest American Lawyer

I have hundreds of LinkedIn contacts.  However, little has ever come from professional networking through LinkedIn.

Facebook, on the other hand, is essentially a social networking software product which is much simpler, cleaner and engaging than the LinkedIn interface.  LinkedIn fails in several critical regards.  First, the inability to post on someone else?s page, and see posts by your connections on your page, means that it is essentially uninteresting.  There is really no content on LinkedIn.  Sure the groups and bulletin boards are meant to connect people of like mind, but from my experience, it really doesn?t work.  Bulletin board messages are more annoying than anything.

The second and more essential failure of LinkedIn is its focus on ?professional? networking.  The days when people were supposed to put on their work clothes, go to work during the day and separate their personal lives from what happens in the office are over.  People want to know who you are as a person, what you like, who your friends are and have a stronger sense of ?knowing you.?  Facebook, in the unique ?wall? experience, cause professionals to get to know each other in a personal way.  It is those personal connections which provide incentive and inspiration to send work someone?s way.

I have gotten a lot more work off Facebook than I will ever get off LinkedIn.  It has now become my primary professional networking tool. 

Full post as published by The Greatest American Lawyer on April 21, 2009 (boomark / email).