A beginners’ guide to LinkedIn for Facebook fanatics

I assumed LinkedIn was for stuffy, high-end professionals who weren’t savvy enough to use Facebook, but wanted to engaged in social media. Boy was I wrong.

LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional social network with 161 million members in more than 200 countries. This is compared to Facebook, which has more than 500 million active users. The beauty of LinkedIn is quite simply that it’s not Facebook. They are completely different sites, with completely different rules. Here are some ways to properly and efficiently use LinkedIn.

Strangers aren’t danger.

The whole point of LinkedIn is to network with professionals and increase your circle. It’s OK to connect with professionals you don’t know, as long as you do it for the right reasons. Don’t go adding anyone and everyone you see on the sidebar.

LinkedIn displays people you may know based on similar professional and shared connections. If you notice an individual with whom you share similar interests or somebody that you want to know more about, do not feel bad about inviting him or her to connect on LinkedIn.

With Facebook, the rule is you only add people you know, but because LinkedIn is a professional network, adding a new connection is okay.

Customize your invite.