This LinkedIn thing is kind of crazy. Well, I mean that in a good way. Seems to me that it is an excellent vehicle for targeted advertising -that is, for the site operators/owners. Well, you can also advertise there as services. You can post and search for jobs. You can keep in touch with friends, as once you're connected with them you don't have to maintain their data. They'll do it for you! (That's assuming they're interested in maintaining their data synched with reality).
Now, talk about Six Degrees of Separation! As you may have heard, there's a theory going around that says that between two given persons in the world, there are at most 6 connections between them. This was popularized by the game "Kevin Bacon's Six Degrees of Separation" (there's also a movie by the name Six Degrees of Separation, with Will Smith amongts others, but I didn't get the movie all that much). To play the game, you give an actor/actress' name, and then you have to come up with at most six connections that lead to Kevin Bacon. So for example,
Kevin Costner (worked on "JFK" with)
--> Kevin Bacon.
That one was easy. It's only one degree of separation.
Let's do another one.
Martin Sheen-->(Father of)
-->Charlie Sheen (was directed on "Platoon" by)
-->Oliver Stone (directed in "A Few Good Men")
-->Kevin Bacon
The same is supposedly true of any two human beings today. Let's See
Me (once worked in the house of)
-->Warren Beatty (Worked on "Bugsy" with)
-->Anette Benning (Worked on "The American President" with)
-->Michel Douglas (Worked in "The Game" with)
-->Sean Penn (Worked in "Mystic River" with)
-->Kevin Bacon
Hmmm, I have 5 degrees of separation with Kevin Bacon. OK, you may protest that I didn't actually meet Warren, but hey, I painted his house once. Can you say the same?
Anyway, coming back to LinkedIn, I guess the people that thought it up realized that there's enormous power in relationships. I mean, according to some statistic I read once about, about 80% of people find jobs -as an example- through relationships, and not necessarily first degree. I know that for mechanics, or plumbers, or doctors, I usually go and ask someone I trust. So this is sort of the manifestation of the same principle.
Why didn't anyone think of it sooner. Why didn't I? Darn!
