7 professional networking alternatives to LinkedIn

Editor’s note: This article is a re-run as part of our countdown of top stories from the past year.

Most people who engage in professional networking use LinkedIn to build connections or find new opportunities, possibly because they were told to grow their LinkedIn presence when they started working.

While LinkedIn is the most popular platform for professional networking, it’s not the only one. Consider these alternatives:

1. Meetup

If your definition of “professional networking” is synonymous with seminars, conventions and any kind of so-called “meet-ups”, Meetup is right for you. Established in 2002 by Scott Heiferman, Meetup allows you to create and host events and discover and register for local events.

Through the Meetup platform, you can find communities of people who have common interests. Events are grouped under various categories. The professional events, categorized under career and business, tend to be a mixture of seminars and after-work networking.

Meetup is an excellent platform for discovering events where you can grow your offline network and make face-to-face connections. It’s also a great site for self-promotion and business promotion.