Since my last
post about LinkedIn, its traffic
has continued to rise and I’ve continued to get emails from old colleagues,
new colleagues, friends, and friends of friends asking me to connect or endorse
them. Several others have also endorsed
me.

I’ve offered my consulting profile to
prospective clients only to have them tell me they already read it on LinkedIn.
(Cool!) 

I’ve met a few people that
I never would have known existed had I not poked around my network on LinkedIn.

It may have started out
slowly in 2003, but LinkedIn is now
expanding at a phenomenal rate. People are signing up, using the service, and writing about its impact
on business. 

Business
2.0 ran an article recently that highlighted several successful LinkedIn
users. They feel that LinkedIn can thank
Web 2.0 for its recent surge in popularity.

Job
Search 2.0 on Conversation Agent discussed how LinkedIn is impacting job
seekers. 

The
Future of Linked-In on MarketingHeadhunter.com contemplated the impact on
recruiters and future LinkedIn enhancement possibilities (including some neat
ideas about mash-ups).

LinkedIn
or Locked Out on The Virtual Handshake Blog explored the pros AND cons of
LinkedIn’s expansion. 

Linked intelligence is an entire blog
about how to effectively use the tool (and it does not appear
to be sponsored or run by LinkedIn).

The bottom line: If you’re
someone who depends on being connected you need to explore LinkedIn. It is an amazing resource!

PS: Reid Hoffman (CEO,
LinkedIn) will be a speaker at the Software and Information Industry (SIIA) Summit in NY January 30-31,
2007.