Linked In network

Do any of you guys use the Linked In network? No this is not a shameless plug. I am just amazed at what it can do.

Games industry pros are one of the groups of people who use it the most, and last it looked there were 3000+ games industry guys on it.

Works by invitation only, so you invite people, you trust will not give you a bad name, and then everybody enjoy each others contacts and their contacts and so on and so on... I was invited by Martyn Brown from Team17 (Got Worms?) a while ago, and haven't looked back since.

You search for random companies and big shots or whatever else, and I am pretty amazed. The only people I haven't manage to find are Sid Meier and Will Wright...

Okay. Essentially it is web based application to keep track of your contacts and their contacts and their contacts and so on. Then it comes with a heavy duty search engine, for basically scouring the network for anybody matching whatever criteria.

Let's say you need an interface artist, so you search for that title, perhaps in the country of need, or with the options of only listing candidates that are willing to receive job offers and relocate or work in your country. The Linked In network turns out so and so many candidates you have no ideas who is. But it turns out that they actually are friends of one of your friends, and so the connection (plus personal recommendations) can be established.

Or you love the texture work in Half Life 2 and want to discuss the techniques involved, BUT don't know any guys from Valve. But wahey, it turns out that your link to Valve is only a few buddies away. That is how it works pretty much.

Basically it is a tool for keeping track of your network of contacts, and more importantly turbo charging it exponentially. The idea is that everybody on earth is only six degrees of separation apart. Which apparently holds water scientifically speaking.

Yeah, Friendster sort of. The reason I am asking is because it seems like it is really popular among games developers, so chances are that a lot of guys here could be on...

If anybody is interested, drop me a line, and I'll forward an invitation...

The cheque is in the mail...

Quote from JynxDaddy

So this is just another exclusive club I wont ever get into. Why not?

Oh yeah. Everything can be changed as you see fit whenever you want it...