LinkedIn: What Are You Working On?

LinkedIn seems to be rolling out its new user interface. Initial reviews are good, I think. "It looks just like Facebook," says my high school-aged daughter, which I think is a good thing in her mind. There are several new features, but one I urge you to take immediate advantage of is to answer the question, "What are you working on?"

One of the nicer features of LinkedIn is that it can keep your contacts up-to-date with your activities by putting a short message on their LinkedIn home pages. When you answer a question, join a group, or post a new photo, your connections are kept informed. Same for you, when your connections do something. Yes, it is a good way to find out about events, groups, or questions that you should know about. More importantly, it is an excellent way to keep yourself top of mind with your connections. Top of mind recall means that they will remember you tomorrow when the recruiter calls looking for someone with your background, or that they meant to call you to do lunch, etc.

The new question, "What are you working on?" allows you to control your messages to your connections. No longer do you have to send them InMails, or update the Summary section of your profile with your latest activities (still a good idea, actually, so start doing it and keep doing it). Now you can answer the question and get right in front of your connections.

I've noticed that my connections seem to have chosen two paths: Steve Mann at SAP went for an update that supported his long-term goals -- he "is developing a social media strategy for SAP Global Marketing." Steve Lubetkin went for something more near-term but still equally noteworthy -- he "is seeking corporate/org sponsors for podcasts at the IAOC Conference in Reykjavik in June."