Article

The Referral as Gift: LinkedIn as Altruism
Bob Jacobson [Bluefire Consulting]

Not a day goes by that a friend, a colleague, or a member of the family doesn't ask me to join him or her on one of the now dozen or so online "social networks." Usually my answer is "No," because my time is so fiercely divided, my social connections are already extensive, and the thrill of experimentation wore off long ago.

I was an original member of The WELL community, the original Matchmaker, and USENET newsgroups in the 1980s and early 1990s. Fifteen years later, the ability to connect with other persons online is no longer novel: it's an everyday fact of life.

Why then do I suffer no guilt, but instead joy, when I refer friends and business associates to LinkedIn? Because my user experience on LinkedIn has been so positive. I have no financial interest in LinkedIn, but I do have an interest in its success ­ because its success and mine, as a user, are now intertwined.

When Linkedin's marketing VP, Konstantin Guericke, an old friend from virtual reality days, asked me to register, I had my doubts. Who needed another time-consuming profile to fill out and maintain on the dubious premise that somehow it would come to the attention of unknown others who would honor me with attention and business? Nevertheless, Konstantin is a true believer in his product and persuasive to boot, so I signed on.

Three positive LinkedIn characteristics immediately impressed me. First, LinkedIn is purposive and focused, like any good business. It's a business instrument. lean and mean, without distractions. Second, LinkedIn has a champion interface. I have never been at a loss to figure out what to do, to get what I need. The few times I have challenged Konstantin with recommendations, LinkedIn's developers were already at work making the changes. Third, using LinkedIn is rewarding: it's fun, it produces results ­ and and most importantly, it's bonding. It's an online potlatch.

It's always been fun for me to join together friends and colleagues unknown to each other but who have common interests or purposes. Most of us who read this blog share this delight. What could be better, then, than an online service that allows us to do this regularly, almost always with a positive result?

Let me describe one situation that particularly impressed me. A professional friend, an American expat in Japan, teaches at Ainu University on the cold northern island of Hokkaido. It's not exactly in the mainstream, not where you'd expect to find Michael, a leader in his technical field. Imagine my surprise at receiving an email from a friend that had been delivered to him by a friend, originated by a scientist in Tokyo who wanted to get in touch. As No. 4 in a chain of five contacts, I was the last bridge. I wrote an introductory note, pressed "Enter," and sent the Tokyo technologist off to his Hokkaido counterpart, initiating what was to become a friendship enhanced by a personal meeting between the two. It's unlikely they would have met without LinkedIn as an intermediary ­ or without my decision to connect the two.

Giving the gift of association engenders a special rush. LinkedIn lets me do it every day. Not that I'm profligate. I rigorously deflect messages that would discount me as a trusted agent if my contacts would consider them thoughtless or spammy. I expect others to do the same.

Potential contacts' quality is enhanced by a new feature, "endorsements" that former coworkers and business partners can append to a user's profile.

Should anything be changed about LinkedIn? It's been suggested by Raj Setty, CEO at Cignex, Inc., that physical meetings, arranged by LinkedIn or by the users themselves, would greatly leverage the value of making online connections. Harkening back to the "WELLbeing Face-to-Face" parties that gave meaning to membership in the pioneering WELL community, I have to agree that the ability to arrange physical meetings would be a major value-add.

Also, LinkedIn has to start earning an income. So say we all.

But the fact remains: LinkedIn is a gift that keeps on giving. Each time I link in I'm introduced to a new chain of interesting and often valuable personalities. A bonus: having all of my professional friends onboard enables us to do the favor of introductions for each other on a regular basis. If left to our own Rolodexes and email systems, we might never get in touch. Through the connections we make with and request from one another, we constantly rediscover who we are.

It's this "discovery" aspect of LinkedIn that intrigues me the most. It reminds me of my undergraduate courses in sociometry, the measurement of associations in a group. But LinkedIn stirs in many other, equally exciting ingredients: online global networks, search engine smarts, and network theory's powerful principle of Six Degrees ­ here borne out in famous fashion ­ that it's as much an adventure as a tool. And that's what experiential design of the best type is all about.

Bob Jacobson is Principal with Bluefire Consulting (bluefire@well.com). He helps clients make sense of technology trends and meanings.