Linkedin. What is it actually for?

[Psychoticbreak]

My ex used to tell me to get on there as he is on there and when I looked at his page it is just a list of jobs and things he has done so to me it is a website for looking for jobs etc so I didnt bother because I have a job and am happy there as is he but I just wondered do employers not see this as a threat? I mean if you are on there surely you are happy to move jobs or have I got it completely wrong?

How do you know who is looking you up if they don't have linked in accounts themselves?

To me, it seems to be filled with anyone who needs a reason to post a bloody selfie, even when totally unrelated to their post.

I use it for networking with people who share my particular area of interest (tech-related) and keeping up to date with industry developments. If I was job hunting it would be my first port of call, I'm not even sure where else I'd look.

Always amused when someone is "thrilled" to announce they have completed a one day beginner course in something.

When I was heavily into strategy in the noughties I set up a test LinkedIn account with some boilerplate content.

It is still receiving connection requests and job offers.

Which does make me wonder about how genuine it all is.

I also did the same for Facebook and Twitter and they are still sending me emails telling me what I am missing out on.

I use it to keep in touch with former students and see what they're up to professionally. I find it useful and they can contact me if they need a reference.

I've never looked for work using it but I have got the odd bit of freelance work from it.

I think what puts me off interacting with it more nowadays is that it veers too much into "exciting innovative" selfie social media smugness. I realise its a self marketing tool but I take anything on there with a very large pinch of salt!
Useful for checking out potential candidates for recruiting only.

Have previously sat in meetings relating to other people where their Linkdin has been discussed - some people looking them up might use another surname they've had and not actually included their current employer in their details, so the employee just sees 'Sarah Bloggs' without realising it's somebody at work. There's also viewing through a spouse's account and the sheer fact that somebody has appeared on it being taken as 'a lack of commitment/loyalty'

I find it useful for being able to remain in touch with people I’ve worked alongside when they or I have moved on in their careers. Which happens a lot when you work in large organisations with a fair degree of turn over.

Us Uni academics used LkdIn very minimally for selves, more like ticking a box than anything else. Our Unis have giant comms machines that lead to us stating most of our CV like info on the Uni website itself. ResearchGate wants to be LkdIn for academics, but also doesn't provide what we'd want. We are way too feral a lot. I don't see many NHS consultants on LkdIn either (for example). They would also need a specialised service.

I'm on there as it's the easiest way to keep up to date on news in my sector, I can't go into my job history in much detail on there for security reasons, I don't use it for job hunting (although interesting to see what private sector in my field offers)