Twitter

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Actually, LinkedIn is the real professional networking site. 

Indeed.

[Father Demon]

LinkedIn basic is fine for me, and I really can't see why it's worth it to spend the extra money.  Looking up contacts, researching prospective employers, or more importantly lately upcoming interviewers all all phenomenal in the free service.  I get more out of that site professionally than I do from any other.

Indeed.

Indeed.com is the shiznit when looking for jobs.  It basically combs all the other sites (job boards, corporate sites, want ad sites, etc).  Save keyword searches, company searches, etc, and get an email everyday with tons of potential matches.

I could give a class on looking for a job.  Unfortunately, I don't seem to be very good at actually finding one.

[Father Demon]

One of the people I follow on Twitter is a columnist who writes on the local bar and restaurant scene. She posts alerts about upcoming events and such, in addition to her personal updates, so there is some value to following her. And there are a few other bloggers that I like to keep up on. I definitely don't need immediacy, and I don't have Twitter updating me via text messages or anything. But it is nice to sit down at my computer, pull up one page, and find out what some of my on-line contacts are up to.

Maybe this is why I'm not getting anything out of it.  How do you find the people to follow?  I mean, if I wanted to look for a contact I had for some reason, I can't find a way to search for them unless I know their Twitter user name.  Or a blogger, for instance? 

[Susquehanna Birder]

Yeah, you either have to know who you're looking for, or you can look at who your existing contacts are following, and then follow them yourself.

[Father Demon]

That sucks.  They need a search function.

[Diomedes]

I mean, if I wanted to look for a contact I had for some reason, I can't find a way to search for them unless I know their Twitter user name.  Or a blogger, for instance?

I would imagine that many bloggers list their Twitter username?

[phattymatty]

matt just ate an italian sandwich

[Diomedes]

next Twit from matty likely to be:

matt just performed an asslosion in the executive bathroom

[Father Demon]

matt's funny.

[Cerevant]

From what I can tell the service appeals to people for whom constantly checking emails in their blackberry just isnt' enough connection with everyone else.  They gotta have more and faster communication regardless how trivial, because it makes them feel like they are a part of something.  Or some such shtein.

This.

LinkedIn (free version) is great for finding & keeping track of people you've met at previous jobs or at school.  You just enter information about previous jobs & schools, and it lets you search for the names of people who also listed those.  It is especially useful for getting references from people who no longer work where they were your supervisor.