LinkedIn When the top 5% means one of 10 Million.

I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from LinkedIn saying that my profile had been viewed so many times that I was in the top 5% on LinkedIn. They are celebrating the 200 million member mark and this got me doing a small bit of math. I'm one in 10 million on the LinkedIn 'most viewed' meter. How about that? I invite you to visit my profile and see what I've been doing with my life.

I invite you to visit my profile and see what I've been doing with my life.

I do try to live a transparent online life.  I've made my living as an online teacher, researcher, and instructional designer for the last 13 years.  I guess I answered the question  "What can I do after 25 years in public school classrooms?"  Part of working online is being very comfortable with social networks.  I decided long ago I wanted my students and clients to be able to find me online.  That's why I blog, and curate content as a foundation for my own learning. I actively share this work with my students in the UW-Stout E-Learning and Online Teaching Graduate Certificate Program, and everyone else on the Internet.

I know that many of my new online students are uncertain or uncomfortable about building their online presence. This is one of the reasons I've become interested in Online Trust, Reputation, and Values. There is away to live an online life.  My advice; live your values in your online work. Don't be shy about identifying those values in your online profiles. You want to attract like minds and see what comes of it all.

One of my most important networks is LinkedIn.  I've learned that joining groups and posting ideas/articles to those groups can be very beneficial. Of course it's also very important to follow up on any responses you get in the discussion threads of LinkedIn groups. (If I start a conversation, I always try to respond.)

So just like in my pre-Internet freelance writing days, something interesting is always popping up in the mail! Thanks for the distinction LinkedIn! ~ Dennis Thomas O'Connor February 2013