LinkedIn Users: Dr. Sharon Nash, Ph.D.

(Note from Adam --  I was very happy to see the warm response to my first post here on the LinkedIn blog.  Based on some of the comments I received, it seems like many people specifically found the reference to my mother's profile on LinkedIn interesting.  As a result, I thought it would be fun to share these comments from Dr. Sharon Nash, Ph.D., a.k.a my mother.  She joined LinkedIn soon after I joined the company, and I thought her insights and experience would be worth sharing here.)

I always think of myself as a pro-connection type of person.After all, as a psychologist, I spend my day helping people connect with others in a healthy way. I have always valued my own connections and have gone to great lengths to stay in touch with friends from every phase of my life (in fact, I met my husband at the Bronx HS of Science 44 years ago). I have a group of 7 friends (my "birthday club") that I have invited for dinner every July for the last 17 years. I belong to three psychotherapy consultations groups, the longest-standing of which has been together for 15 years. You could say that I'm a relationship junkie.

I joined LinkedIn on June 1st, 2007 at the invitation of my son, Adam, who had signed up 4 years before he started working there in May. He is a great proselytizer and believer in the product; nevertheless, I was skeptical at first.It wasn't quite clear to me what value being LinkedIn would be to a non-techie type who was happily self-employed. During Adam's previous 4 years at eBay, he even launched eBay Express for people like me who were intimidated by the vigilance demanded by an active auction site.  Still, I am ashamed to admit, I never had the courage to give eBay a try.

LinkedIn is different.Once invited, it became very easy (and very seductive) to make my links to friends and colleagues "official." It hasn't always been an easy sell for my cohort, whose technological skills are challenged by the demands of email. As my best friend in high school just replied to my invitation, "why would I want to get LinkedIn to you, when I can just email you?"

The psychologist in me has been fascinated with the responses I have gotten to my invitations to LinkedIn.It's like a projective Rorschach Test of friends' personalities.There are the loyalists who enthusiastically respond, "I'm not sure what it is, but if it means I'm linked to you, I'm joining!".Then there are the skeptics and the Luddites who are afraid that connecting will involve an intolerable level of self-disclosure and fear of unwanted solicitation.Most of my friends are unaware, but open-minded enough to welcome articles on LinkedIn so they can understand what it all about.

Adam has teased me that of the 83 connections I have to date, I may have the highest percentage of people with only one link--me!The reality is, once you're LinkedIn, the site begins to sell itself.As one friendsaid in an email titled "New Addiction":

I am spending so much time on LinkedIn now, it's not funny. I figured out what it is: it's My Space for working people.The truth is, I guessI was looking for something to do to avoid dealing with [my son's] Bar Mitzvah. When I was working, I had that to fill my time, now I need something else, so I busy myself trying to build connections so I don't look like a Link Loser.

Another friend who is a journalist noted:

Adults like me don't spend as much time as my kids do on Facebook-like online activities. But maybe that was before LinkedIn . . . Boy, did I feel like someone in the know when I read Michelle Slatella's column [New York Times Thursday Style] last night and saw the mention of LinkedIn. "I know what that is!" I said to [my daughter] Molly . . . I'm at LinkedIn. Thanks for keeping me current, Sharon.

I must admit, I am thoroughly enjoying perusing my links daily. It is particularly interesting to learn things about the background and experience of friends and family. It has been a kick to track classmates from college and graduate school, fellow therapists and clinical faculty. I check their links, although I am still timid about asking them to forward invitations to their friends and colleagues. As a means of staying connected and current with those I know and respect, it's been a fun ride. I do confess, there is that temptation to keep setting the LinkedIn bar a bit higher. After all, I am so close to 100 connections...