Jill Whalen started a great conversation the other day on Sphinn titled “Have we run out of things to write about?” This same thought has gone through my head a few times as inspiration for great posts comes and goes. Every time I feel this way I remember one thing: I love everything SEO and could talk about it forever.

What happens in a community like Sphinn, or really any niche social networking group, writers and readers get hooked on a specific topic and then write everything about it. People write their opinions on other author’s stories or simply rewrite what someone else has written. Weeks can go by and only one topic has been the center of attention.

This is the nature of a social network – a group of like-minded people all talking about the same things. Naturally, when a topic is so interesting everyone wants to keep reading about it people will keep writing about it. They do this because they are actually interested in continuing and adding their thoughts to the conversation or, and I fear this is what perpetuates being stuck on a topic longer - when a topic is hot, writing about it will make their stories hot and send them traffic.

I had been on LinkedIn for quite a while but I never gave it much thought or attention. I had never bothered filling out a meaningful profile for myself. And I had never sought to add any contacts to my network.

This year I saw the light -- I saw how valuable LinkedIn can be if you know how to work it. I witnessed my colleague Brian Klais use LinkedIn to find some amazing candidates for SEO positions at our company Netconcepts. At the best of times it's hard to hire for SEO positions, as those who are the most qualified are undoubtedly already pulling in a very respectable paycheck. LinkedIn made it a breeze for Brian. Brian's success spurred me on to give LinkedIn a bit more of my attention.

So I completed a profile, worked to quadruple the size of my network, and obtained several endorsements from clients like SuperPages.com and Eurekster.com. (You can view my profile at www.linkedin.com/in/stephanspencer, if you're curious.) Lo and behold, simply the act of adding friends and acquaintances to my network had within days resulted in a number of them renewing their conversations with me -- including an SEO client from several years back who I hadn't spoken to in many months; out of that renewed conversation he agreed to become a reference for our firm. Sometimes all it takes is to reach out to old friends and acquaintances and things start to happen. LinkedIn helps faciliate that process.

Some folks remain unconvinced of the value of LinkedIn. Like David Heinemeier Hansson of 37Signals, who tried to pull the plug on his LinkedIn account but encountered difficulties doing so and very publicly riffed about it on their company's Signal vs. Noise blog. I was pleased to see LinkedIn staffer Konstantin Guericke chime in and defuse the issue with a very constructive comment. I also noticed buried in that post's comments several other excellent bits of commentary from LinkedIn users who have had similarly positive LinkedIn experiences to Brian's and mine.

For example, Gordon Strause, a Senior Product Manager at Yahoo, had this to say:

...I have found Linkedin useful. It's reconnected me with some former co-workers; I've used it to hire contractors and employees; I've even researched some competitive start-ups with it. I'm curious--is there anyone here claiming that Linkedin isn't valuable, did they try to do anything? Did you try to find someone you'd lost touch with? Did you try to find someone that might be helpful to you (contractor or employee or expert)? Or, is it, I signed up and I've been waiting for my cookie? Waiting around for more invitations is clearly not that useful, unless someone finds you interesting.

And Ted Shelton, Founder and CEO of Personal Bee had this to say:

I have been using Linked In for a long time and feel that I have gotten a lot of value from it. I also feel that, as with any tool, it is the amount of time and effort that I invest in the tool that has determined the value that I have derived.

I don't believe there is any magic bullet to having and making use of a social network -- no software tool is going to replace the need to meet people, provide value to those people, develop relationships with those people etc. A tool can make it easier though to keep track (or rediscover) those people and can make it easier to handle routine communications requests.

Here are my rules for using Linked In--

(1) I never invite anyone to join my network that I don’t have a good real world relationship with.

(2) I never agree to join a network of someone else that I don’t have a good real world relationship.

(3) I never ask anyone for assistance through Linked In if it isn’t the kind of request that I would respond positively to.

As a result, I have hired employees referred through Linked In, I have been reconnected to colleagues from the past, I have done reference checks on people through the people we know in common, and I have been able to refer jobs to people in my extended network, helping my friend who are in my immediate network.

Some great points made by Ted and Gordon! (Funny how the comments on a well-trafficked blog like Signal vs Noise can actually exceed the quality of the post itself!)

For those who want to become masters at using LinkedIn to recruit great talent, you might want to check out the book Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting, which is co-authored by Bill Vick and Des Walsh. (Des is a smart guy, I know him as a fellow contributor to BusinessBlogConsulting.com).

Bottom line: you'll get out of LinkedIn what you put into it.

So all you social butterflies out there, put some effort into LinkedIn! Mark my words: it'll be worth it. :-)