Just like it seems Facebook is on the lips of every business and marketing company, Linkedin (now with its recent IPO going gangbusters) is also coming up more and more in the conversation. Yes, just like Facebook, it has been around and successful for years. But my question is, is anyone actually seeing a benefit from it. Sure, they have hundreds of thousands of users (namely “business” professionals). Sure you can get (possibly) better inroads to business networking that rivals Hoovers – but is it a cluttered landscape of ‘half users’ or castaways that set up an account because they “had to” or is it a thriving community? Is it – even with its stellar performance going public – hot air or a hot bed?Personally, I encourage my clients to use and utilize what LinkedIn has to offer, which is the possibility of making contact with the right audience. Since the price is little to nothing to use, than hitting a home run just makes it all the sweeter. But there is a caveat. Just like Facebook, there are plenty of people who use the resource “incorrectly”. You get SPAMMED in the worst case, or you get pestered with pointless posts and content in the best case. Perhaps that’s an unavoidable symptom of mass popularity based on the “everyone is doing it” premise. As it is with anything, being popular doesn’t mean that there is any rhyme or reason or substance behind that popularity. So when LinkedIn went public – one could argue – it did little more than walk out on stage wearing a meat suit.Only time will tell. Until then, I’ll continue to link up and make connections.