How Do Brits Use LinkedIn?

Americans are quite simply better at business networking than Britons -- and just about any other nationality, actually. So it should come as no surprise that they're streets ahead of the UK when it comes to using Web 2.0 for business connections.

In the US, business networking site LinkedIn seems to be massively popular. Creating a visible and extensive network shows you're well connected. People use it to seek out potential new partners or research job applicants. A smart profile page is a must. And many businesses are targeting their LinkedIn profiles at customers and recruits as a due diligence and advertising tool.

Here in the UK? Not so much. When I took up consulting, I figured it couldn't hurt to brush up my LinkedIn profile. I invited anyone in my contacts book who was also on LinkedIn to join my network. In the invitation, I asked how much they used the site. Typical comments included:

"I have never used it -- in the last month I have had a friend and a colleague invite me to join them but that is the first I have heard of it." In other words, this mid-market finance director is an accidental member.

"My husband says he checks it more frequently and is amazed by his growing network -- I don't think he's working hard enough... So the short answer is that I don't find it remotely useful, although I enjoy getting the odd invitation out of the blue -- from you (good) and from assorted PRs who I can't remember (not so good). I can't quite bring myself to press the 'I don't know xyz' button as it seems rather brutal." This magazine editor is being terribly British about her network -- but rather dislikes the whole notion.

"I only use Linkedin occasionally to keep in touch with certain colleagues that have left [previous employer] and to find out where they are currently based." So this senior executive with a body working to deliver London 2012 basically uses it as a less titillating Friends Reunited.

That's not to say everyone who replied was negative about business networking online. But during this recession, a sure-fire way of finding out that someone I know has been made redundant is that I receive an invitation to join their LinkedIn network.

In other words: we Brits rather reluctantly think it's something we should be doing when our situation is dire - but not if we can possibly help it. The Yanks, meanwhile, are getting down to business. (Although, to be fair, redundancies have helped boost US LinkedIn activity, too.)

This keenness for networking in the US has long been the case, of course. My late father, who in today's parlance would be called a "human resources consultant", used to do a presentation (on acetates, natch) about networking that began with a map of the world. An arrow ran from the west coast of the US to Japan. The arrow grew in thickness on its journey east, starting as a point in California and ending with a massive wedge in Japan.

"This illustrates, for different cultures, how long you have to know someone before they'll do business with you," he'd explain. "In San Diego, you walk in off the street and you're down to brass tacks immediately. By New York, you need a coffee to feel comfortable with a new associate. In London, it's probably half-way through the main course at lunch before you talk turkey. And in Japan, you need three or four dinners before people are willing to do business."I think those cultural lessons have translated directly to Web 2.0.

So if anyone had experiences of social and business networking communities online in Asia -- drop me a line. Via LinkedIn, perhaps!

(Photo: antwerpenR, CC2.0)