xentek

Its been a long time in coming, but Linked In has joined the ranks of today’s modern Social Networks by adding photos to their profile page. I should rephrase that: by adding a photo to the profile page. As should be expected on a professional social network. I applaud the move, as this year I even added a photo to my resume, in an effort for it to stand out more. Its common practice for people in the rest of the world to attach a photo to their CV.

And good on LinkedIn for adding some intelligent preferences around the use of photos. For paranoid hiring managers, they can turn off all photos - in case they want to ensure they are being completely objective and non-discrimatory. Users also have controller over who can see their photo (Connections, Network, or Everyone).

My only complaint is the size. If you are only going to have one photo, why does it have to be an 80×80 pixel thumbnail? You can barely get a head shot to be clear at that size. Much less something interesting (I tend to use professional semi-casual shots of me outdoors, like the one on my Contact page). Also their flash based cropping tool could use some work - It made a resized image (I uploaded a 200×200 square image) looks worse than the original, which means, now I’m going to have to resize it myself, and re-upload it.

Earlier this year, I started concentrating on getting my LinkedIn profile fleshed out, and the more time I spent on there, the more I liked the site. I’ve got my profile filled out to 100%, collected about 5 or 6 recommendations, made some recommendations myself, and added as many connections as I could. I even participate in the Q & As that get posted to my network. I’m doing this in preparation of when I’ll need to call on my professional network for something. Right now, I’m busy enough, but am always looking for interesting and challenging projects to consult and advise on, and my “Flesh Network” is already providing that in spades.

How about you? Are you on LinkedIn? What do you use it for? Let me know in the comments.