LinkedIn endorsements: building authority, one peer at a time
July 20, 2013LinkedIn is an exceptionally valuable platform for professional networking.
It serves to provide information on potential employers, candidates, suppliers, partners, clients and competitors. It enables conversation through group discussions, advertisement through targeted banners and status updates, and allows validation of capabilities through ‘endorsements’.
Recent changes on LinkedIn included the much greater emphasis on validating the skills of those with whom you are connected.
Every time you visit a profile, a blue box appears above the name and portrait, with a series of terms which the individual has selected, inviting your confirmation of these skills. Immediately upon confirming these, a panel with four more appears, in an endless sequence. You may confirm these singly or all at once. You will recognise that this has the potential to be a major time-commitment, and elect to close the window!
Skills can be selected on your own profile or suggested by your contacts. I initially selected terms which consolidated my capabilities into a few specific terms. However, I recognise that some terms and acronyms will be unknown to some connections, and they may volunteer other terms which are meaningful to them.
As a result, my profile is well-endorsed for Web Design, but also for Web Development, User Interface Design, Online Production, Corporate Websites, Wire Framing, User Experience, Digital Media, Mobile Design and Website Development. Some of these terms highly specific and others more general, some are mutually exclusive and others are interchangeable. They simply reflect the understanding and common use of terminology by a broad range of connections.
Likewise, my profile displays many terms for motion picture production, including: Video, Web Video, Video Production, HD Video, Videography, Digital Video, Video Editing, Final Cut Pro, Film Production and Film.
LinkedIn endorsements are another example of an online network utilising User Generated Content (UGC) to build a more comprehensive and accurate database (like a global ‘Wikipedia’ of professionals). When Google searches for an individual name ofter display a LinkedIn profile as the top listing, the importance of accuracy is critical.
As these terms help to identify your capabilities, it is a valuable exercise to continually monitor incoming endorsements and to reciprocate by endorsing your connections.
The LinkedIn site and your profile (and professional life) will both benefit.
From Our Clients
I have viewed all the videos and would like to commend you on the excellent quality.
I would like to thank you for the excellent editing which portrays the event as dynamic and stimulating.
Your team has been great to work with. Tamara is very quick to catch on to things and Amir's code and CSS has impressed David due to its' simplicity and elegance.
We were very happy with the development process and the outcome. The objectives have all been achieved, in terms of usability and ease of use in updating the site. You definitely nailed both of these.
This is fantastic. Thank you. I really appreciate all the work you have done for us!
Andrew W Morse and the Digital Tsunami team are world class, creative professionals in the challenging and highly competitive business of web page design and utilisation.
He understands business, he understands marketing, he understands communication and he understands design. And most importantly, his web pages pay for themselves within weeks of going online.