LinkedIn Status Updates: 7 Do’s and Don’ts

The LinkedIn status update feature can be a powerful tool to keep you connected with the many far-flung members of your professional network.

Careful when you’re about to hit that Post button….

But beware: it’s easy to make a mistake when it comes to the kind of information you should be sharing through your communities. Read some definite do’s and DON’Ts from social media expert Maggie Herbert at LinkedIn.com.

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Greater IBM, what would you add to these? Have you got any tips to share?

- Posted by Regan Kelly

Where is Your Internal Social Strategy?

@khalidraza9

The need for social strategy:

A friend of mine joined an organization recently and emailed to ask me to mentor him on use of social tools within the organization and also to help him create more robust SocialGlamor for him in the wider world.

While chatting with him, I asked, why does he need to use these tools – and his response stumped me! He said he wanted to use these tools to catch up with the people around him who are using them everyday. He did not know WHY he needed to become social. He also mentioned that he does not have time for it but his leadership wants him to become social. This is more dangerous that the Cloned Social concept!

Where are we heading?

The use of social tools, like Twitter, Facebook, Connections, blogging., etc should make us more productive, is what i understood all along, but recently the pull-push marketing has made the use these tools just a fashion statement. “Because everyone is using it, you should,” is a fallacy and will make more fatigued employees and will defeat the purpose.

Read the complete post on SocialGlamor.

Related:

• Where is your internal Social Strategy? (khalidraza9.wordpress.com)
• Social Media Strategies in 2013 (articlewinter.wordpress.com)
• Applying the 80/20 rule to Social Media (domo.com)

Infographic: IDC Names IBM the Market Share Leader in Social Software for 4th Year Running

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that for the fourth consecutive year, IDC ranked IBM number one in worldwide market share for enterprise social software.* Social networking adoption continues to soar as businesses look to transform their organization into a smarter enterprise that is capable of empowering a global workforce and transforming client experiences.

According to IDC, the worldwide enterprise social market segment reached 1.0 billion in 2012, representing growth of 25 percent over 2011.*

Leading IBM social business clients include Prudential Insurance, Fluor Corporation, Lowe’s Home Improvement, LeasePlan and Electrolux. Read more.

* Source: IDC Worldwide Semiannual Software Tracker, 2H 2012

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Related

IBM Social Business

 

 

- Posted by Regan Kelly

The 12 Types of Social Media Users: Which One Are You? (Infographic)

When it comes to how you use social media, are you a lurker? Or more like a Ghost, a Changeling, or a Peacock? Which one are YOU? (Infographic by firstdirect.com)

- Posted by Regan Kelly

What You’re Talking About This Month

In this issue:

• Best of the Blog: Your Top Five for March
• IBM Honors Eight New Fellows: Congratulations to the Class of 2013
• Join the Conversation

Best of the Blog: Your Top Five for March

For the month of March, here are the five most popular blog posts at The Greater IBM Connection blog. In order:

• Video Tour: Capturing the Character of the IBM Brand
• The Replay: Watch Ginni Rometty’s Historic Speech to the Council on Foreign Relations
• Just for Fun: Vintage Social Networking
• Infographic: Who’s Really On Your Conference Call?
• IBM Video Series Celebrates International Women’s Day

Thanks for visiting and thanks for your comments on the blog!

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IBM Honors Eight New Fellows: Congratulations to the Class of 2013

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty this week marked the 50th anniversary of the IBM Fellows Program by honoring eight IBMers with the company’s highest technical distinction. Only 246 individuals have earned this designation in the company’s history, 85 of whom are active employees.

The Class of 2013

“As we have for half a century, IBM is today honoring its most outstanding technologists and their contributions to computing and society,” said Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.

The eight new fellows – read about them here – join a distinguished tradition of excellence and innovation. Congratulations to the Class of 2013!

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Join the Conversation

One benefit of membership in The Greater IBM Connection group at LinkedIn is the opportunity to take part in – and learn from – the many lively conversations among our 80,000+ members. Ongoing discussions today include:

• When You Left IBM How Did It Change Your Life – Or Not?
• How Will Big Data and Social Media Change the Nature of Project Management?
• Ever Wonder How to Be of Higher Value?

What do you think? You can reply to these and many more – or start your own discussion – if you’re a member of The Greater IBM Connection group of LinkedIn. (Note: The Greater IBM Connection on LinkedIn is not open to contractors.)

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Stay connected with The Greater IBM Connection by:

• Bookmarking the The Greater IBM Connection portal
• Following the The Greater IBM Connection blog
• Joining the The Greater IBM Connection LinkedIn Group
• Liking The Greater IBM Connection on Facebook
• Following @greater_ibm on Twitter: https://twitter.com/greater_ibm

You’re Doing It Wrong: 9 Mistakes You’re (Probably) Making on LinkedIn

What separates the master networkers from the amateurs? The former tend not to make these 9 mistakes – 9 things that many are doing wrong on LinkedIn, and more importantly, how you can fix those mistakes.

- By Greater IBM favorite Jeff Haden at Inc.com.

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Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry. Everything else he picks up from ghostwriting books for some of the smartest leaders he knows in business. Follow him: @jeff_haden

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What would you add to this list? Tell us in the Comments.

– Posted by Regan Kelly, Editor/Community Manager, The Greater IBM Connection

LinkedIn Reaches 200 Million Members

LinkedIn earlier this year reached a major new milestone: 200 million members.

And The Greater IBM Connection’s LinkedIn group has nearly 80,000 of those members.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for being an active part of The Greater IBM Connection network – we’re glad you’re here. If you’ve ever been, or are currently, an IBM employee, you are eligible to join our LinkedIn group. (NOTE: This group is not open to contractors.)

In addition, you can always join us on our Facebook page and Twitter feed. See you there!

In Case You Missed It: Catching Up with Greater IBM

In this issue:

• IBM Connect 2013 – Watch it anytime
• What’s new around The Greater IBM Connection
• Welcome, new members!

IBM Connect 2013 – Watch it anytime

If you’re not in Orlando for IBM Connect 2013 this week, not to worry: you can now see replays of The IBM Connect OGS, Keynote, and many other exciting sessions.

We’re happy to let you know that these and many more are available for replay on Livestream.  Watch them anytime, all in this video library.

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What’s new around The Greater IBM Connection

If you haven’t visited the blog lately, here’s a roundup of some popular recent posts you might have missed:

• Congratulations, IBM WebSphere Champions 2013!
• Watson’s Off to College: Supercomputer joins forces with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Quit Thinking So Positively (+ 4 Other “Good” Habits To Ditch)
• The Little Red Laptop Button? A Patented IBM Innovation: http://wp.me/p2kcos-Lh
• And just for fun – a new cartoon that might seem familiar, on work-life “balance”

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Welcome!

If you’ve just joined The Greater IBM Connection, welcome. We’re glad to see you here and we know you’re going to enjoy reconnecting and networking with your IBM friends and colleagues.

These useful links will help you get started:

Find other Greater IBMers on:

• Facebook: Click the Like button to see Greater IBM news in your Newsfeed.
• Twitter: Click the Follow button.
•  LinkedIn: Be a part of one of the largest groups on all of LinkedIn, and join nearly 80,000 Greater IBM Connection community members. Contribute to the conversations or start your own – it’s your community, see you there!
  

4 Big Tips for LinkedIn Endorsements and Skills

In case you haven’t noticed, LinkedIn endorsements are here to stay. Why not make the most of this network feature on your profile?

In this fascinating piece from Careerealism.com, here’s why: Using this section wisely is essential, because LinkedIn has now made it searchable by recruiters. So if you want to maximize your chances of attracting hiring managers’ attention, start doing these four things today.

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What do you think of LinkedIn’s endorsements feature? Do you think endorsements are helpful? Let us know in the Comments.

LinkedIn Group Engagement Strategy? Here’s Our All-Time Top Posts

(Graphic credit: Brafton)

Thinking about how to better engage your group members on LinkedIn?  This may help.  It’s an overview of the all-time most popular posts for The Greater IBM Connection, one of the largest business networking groups on LinkedIn.  Initially we were going to pull a list just for 2012 but thought this list yields a bit more insight into what works well for engaging LinkedIn group members.  Here’s an overview of the all-time top ten LinkedIn discussions, by number of likes/comments/votes.  For the most part, questions about affiliation to IBM or career did the best.  It’s also worth mentioning the #11 most popular post since it fell off this list but does tie in well with our January theme of ‘leadership’.  It was “Who was the greatest IBM President and CEO of the last century?  Why?  Your Story?” posted in Aug 2011 with 103 comments/likes.

LINKEDIN DISCUSSION	NUMBER OF COMMENTS/LIKES
1 – Lessons Learned – …What’s one lesson YOU learned at IBM that you use in the rest of your life? (Mar 2011)	542
2 – What’s the most interesting thing you do in your non-work life?  What’s one fascinating thing about you that has nothing to do with IBM? (Feb 2012 and Oct 2012)	266 combined
3 – Whom would return to IBM? poll (Dec 2011)	232 votes, 39 comments/likes
4 – What was the project you were involved/participated in at IBM that you will always remember? (Mar 2011)	219
5 – What motivates you at work, beyond the paycheck? poll(Mar 2012)	194 votes, 42 comments/likes
6 – Just for a laugh….How to spot an old IBMer (Apr 2012)	156
7 – Looking to return to IBM?(May 2012)	154
8 – Why former IBMers who left maybe years ago for any reason are still active on The Greater IBM Connection? (June 2012)	132
9 – Greater IBMers:  What’s your most productive time of day?  poll (Nov 2012)	110 votes, 8 comments
10 – CHALLENGE:  Describe the purpose of IT governance in no more than a 160 characters SMS message… (Feb 2010)	108

–Posted by Julie Yamamoto, Program Manager, The Greater IBM Connection