Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - (Page 13) Social Media Making connections visible. Click to watch LinkedIn tutorial. Getting LinkedIn Dominating the online professional networking space is LinkedIn, the world’s largest network with over 35 million members worldwide, 9 million of them in Europe. The LinkedIn site is basically a database of individual profiles. Users are provided with the tools to manage and maintain their profile, connect to others on the network, share knowledge, expertise and potential opportunities. “The subject matter of LinkedIn is the individual. While people talk about their companies and products, the main thing that you’ll find with the site is people,” says Steven Tylock, author of The Linkedin Personal Trainer. Tylock explains that LinkedIn helps bridge one-to-one introductions that may lead to any number of activities, and that the real benefit of online networking is the way it extends the networker’s reach. “You would never call 200 people to ask if they know anyone at company XYZ. It just isn’t practical,” says Tylock. “But it is easy to search through that many people on LinkedIn; then you call one person to ask them to introduce you to their contact at XYZ.” Bucking broader recessionary trends, LinkedIn is expanding internationally. Earlier this month it added a dedicated German site to service 500,000 German users already registered. The company launched sites in France and Spain last year. LinkedIn’s main rival in Europe is Xing, the German networking site formerly known as OpenBC (Open Business Community). Xing has 6.5 million users, but with most of its users in Germany and Austria, it appears to be struggling somewhat against Linkedin’s global dominance. The good news for Xing users is that the cash-positive business has a new CEO, who has been tasked to pursue a more aggressive international expansion strategy with a fighting fund of $50 million (Euro 38.5 million) at his disposal. Watch this space. For the time being, however, LinkedIn is where it’s at for international pharma; the sheer size of its network is staggering. My own limited network shows that I am just one or two contacts away from almost 475,000 potential pharmaceutical industry contacts. Five things You Can Do Today To Improve Your LinkedIn Experience 1. Take a fresh look at your profile. A great number of LinkedIn users have not spent enough time considering the “headline”, “summary” and “expertise” sections of their profile. It was ok to leave these sections empty when you created your account, but after a few weeks, you’ve got to find the time to put your message in there. 2. Often people will draw a blank when they consider who to connect to, but it doesn’t have to be hard. Most people belong to one or more professional organizations and know several people - find out if they are already using LinkedIn and invite those you know and trust to connect with you. 3. Search for individuals or companies you’ve got an appointment with this week. Click into the “Advanced Search” area and try to find the people you are meeting with and check out their background. After doing that, search on the company to see who else in the business is using LinkedIn and how they’re using it. 4. Search for someone in your field with your skills and see if you find yourself. Consider someone looking for you; they don’t have your name, they are just looking for a resource with your specialties. Would they find you? Are you at or near the top of the list? If the answer is no, you need to reinforce your profile. 5. Enter all of your email addresses. You are invited based on your email address, and if you happen to get invited through an email address that isn’t registered to your account, you’ll end up with a duplicate and it is a real hassle to delete it. Don’t worry, only your primary email address will be used. With 5 minutes on each item, you’ll get a better Linkedin experience for less than a half hour’s worth of effort. Steven Tylock, author of The Linkedin Personal Trainer 1 7 NEWS VACCINES 2 11 FROM THE EDITOR / NEWS STRATEGY 5 CALENDAR 6 BRUSSELS REPORT 12 ONLINE NETWORKING 15 ON THE MOVE http://dotsub.com/view/1ac648cb-a41c-4d40-94a0-8ffe7207f9bb http://www.linkedin.com https://www.xing.com/ http://corporate.xing.com/no_cache/english/press/welcome/news-detail/article/pressemitteilungbr-2/6/6c128d968f/ http://corporate.xing.com/no_cache/english/press/welcome/news-detail/article/pressemitteilungbr-2/6/6c128d968f/ http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com/ http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com/
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 Contents From the Editor News Calendar Brussels Report Vaccines Management Theory Online Networking On the Move Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Contents (Page 1) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 2) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - News (Page 3) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - News (Page 4) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Calendar (Page 5) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Brussels Report (Page 6) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 7) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 8) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 9) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 10) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Management Theory (Page 11) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Online Networking (Page 12) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Online Networking (Page 13) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Online Networking (Page 14) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - On the Move (Page 15)
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