Education ∪ Math ∪ Technology

Why am I using LinkedIn anyway?

I don’t see what value, if any, my time spent managing my LinkedIn profile has given me. I have nearly 1000 connections on the site now, but I have only used it to contact people a few times, and people have only used it a few times to contact me. They could have contacted me in a bunch of other ways, through sites that I use much more frequently.

I feel like I’m throwing away my time working on my LinkedIn profile and getting nothing back for that time spent. I remember thinking that building connections there would be really useful if I decided to find a new job, but I have a new job, and getting that job had nothing at all to do with my LinkedIn profile.

This type of analysis, by the way, is related to mathematical game theory. I have a choice I can make: to continue using LinkedIn, or to discontinue my use. In my brief discussion above, I have resources I can allocate (time) and a hope for a benefit that I will get out of the activity (employment). Everyone else who uses LinkedIn has the same choice. If people stopped sending me connection requests or adding new skills to my profile, then deciding to end my use of LinkedIn would be easier, but I feel social pressure to continue my use of LinkedIn, and consequently, I apply social pressure to others to continue their use.

Thoughts?