Great feature – I’d been tasting it thus far and realized the usefulness only today – when I found something of use to myself. Depending on how people actually utilize the power of this feature, it could work out to be quite beneficial for someone looking for help.
The question was asked by Zale Tabakam and answered by a multitude of people. I’ve sent an e-mail to Zale thanking him for asking the question that elicited such lucid answers.
The potential of LinkedIn Answers is thus pronounced as analogous to “sky is the limit”.
January 18th, 2007
I’ve just paid for OpenLink premium membership for another year [ my second paid year ] on LinkedIn. It was a conscious decision and not the auto-recharge on my card – I’ve received a steady stream of referrals from the platform [ which might/might not have converted into real clients ] and I do see the advantage of being “visible”.
[ Disclaimer : I am not an official/unofficial spokesperson for LinkedIn and neither are they paying me for any advertising. ]
One of the blocks I’ve run into is trying to convert friends and business associates into LinkedIn users. Apart from the fact that internet-usage in India is still dismal, somehow, an online portal “strictly” for business does not appeal to most. It rocks my world though.
December 17th, 2006
Derek Featherstone, writes how it would make social networking life easier to have our contact lists and profile details automatically siphoned in from our personal websites.
While the technology/backend part of it might not be palatable to a majority of social/business networkers, it would indeed solve the problem of re-building of contacts whenever we join a new networking portal – and there are many already existing and more sprouting by the day.
Brilliant thought nonetheless and like him, I’ll wait till someone comes up with a front-end for this solution. Till then I am going to carry on with the arduous task of re-inviting connections on the new networking website that I’m going to join this week!
November 21st, 2006
Checked out the Services tab on LinkedIn to see how I fare on the Graphic/Web Designer category under Service Provider Recommendations.
I have seven recommendations on my LinkedIn professional profile as a graphic/web designer, one recommendation as a Creative Head and one recommendation as a business consultant.
Under the Service Provider directory my profile is listed as having only two recommendations as a Graphic/Web Designer and one as a Business Consultant.
I wonder why there is such misinformation? It affects my business directly – since I use LinkedIn for work and it is such an important part of my business development and helps me to generate revenues, such misinformation affects my revenues!
I have written to Customer Support and LinkedIn and lets hope they not their usual tardy selves with the reply and the solution/explanation. [ Will update this post about the same ].
Another grouse I have with this system of Service Provider categorization is that it allows me to choose the best professional from a certain category only in a given geographical location – which is a huge advantage no doubt. But it should also have an option to allow me to search for the best professional in a certain category in ALL of LinkedIn. I know I’ll come out tops so I’ll be happy to have it implemented 
UPDATE I
Check the comments to hear LinkedIn’s side – they were prompt with this one
The best way to access the Worldwide listing would be to use this URL. Clicking on the globe icon is supposed to work according to the LinkedIn reply below but it doesn’t.
The Service providers recommendation listing shows only those recommendations that are given by clients. So if your client chooses a different options instead of “I was Naina’s client” then it will not show up on the service provider’s directory. The other recommendations made by people you’ve networked with will also not show up because in all likelihood you haven’t worked with these people – and this a fantastic thing that LinkedIn has taken care of [ sometimes I think that there are so many tiny little things that are so important and LinkedIn manages to take care of pretty much all of them ].
I have frou client recommendations as a Graphic/Web Designer and two of the clients did not choose the “I was Naina’s client option”. One has chosen “was a consultant or contractor to Naina at aside” and the other has chosen “was with another company when working with Naina at aside”.
So the system is open to human error and manipulation [ as all systems are ] and my only recourse would be to get in touch with these two clients and request them to edit their recommendations!
I’ll update on how that goes!
November 20th, 2006
Their homepage says that openBC will be back as Xing!
Brilliant! I can’t wait to see the changes they have implemented to make life easier for me as an online networker and as someone who runs an online business.
The announcement is followed with three screenshots, one of openBC from 2003 – 2004, one of openBC from 2004 – 2006 and one of the new Xing. Looks all good to me. Looking forward to the re-launch.
November 18th, 2006
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