What is your status?
What are you working on today of interest to those you are connected to in LinkedIn? Share an update that is professional or personal. Announce your daily headline. This is the most underutilized feature offered by LinkedIn capable of producing tremendous benefit.
Examples:
I am celebrating my 14th year as an entrepreneur today.
I am preparing to attend a conference on renewable energy in Austin
I am chairing a committee for Big Brothers, Big Sisters on their golf tournament
I need a plumber I can trust quickly - hot water burst flooding basement
I am reading Elsewhere U.S.A by Dalton Conley
I seek assistance converting my notebook to Linux
I need the help of a technical writer to complete a project
I seek business partners in the eldercare field
I am attending meetings of The August Group and Digital Rochester
I am posting jobs on PeerNet's LinkedIn Group
Where do you update your status?
Your status is a part of your profile. It can be updated within your profile or from the left hand column of any page below the menus and the green Add Connections button.
What happens when you update your status?
No one gets an email. No spamming. Your status will be visible within your profile to only your connections, your entire network or all LinkedIn members as you choose in your account settings. More on that later. Your connections may be informed via their LinkedIn home page status updates, if you permit sharing your status. Again, more on that later.
What really happens when you share your status varies tremendously with what you are sharing and who you share it with in LinkedIn. Being able to stay in touch with a brief message on a regular basis can provide wonderful benefit to you, your brand, and your network if you let it. People have been hired, clients obtained, problems solved using this simple feature. Review the examples shared above and imagine what might happen and it takes virtually no effort.
Privacy settings regarding your status
Your status will be shared as a part of your profile. You control who sees your status selecting Profile & Status updates within Privacy Settings after having chosen the Accounts & Settings link atop each page. It is advisable to share your profile and status updates making them viewable on the LinkedIn homepage of your connections. NO email is sent!
Within Profile Settings, select Status Visibility and elect who can see your status when they view your profile. Your choices are your connections, your network or all LinkedIn members. Generally it is advised to cast your message to the broadest audience as a part of your personal branding campaign. You might elect to change the setting at different times.
Settings regarding the viewing of the status of your connections Groups & Their Benefits
You may elect to view or NOT view the status updates of your connections on your LinkedIn home page. Settings are controlled within Network Updates of Home Page Settings after having selected Accounts & Settings atop each page. It advised that there is great value in doing so. This is the simplest means of staying up to date with those you are connected to. Only your direct connections status updates will be displayed here and only for the current day and prior day. The updates are headlines, not lengthy notes. This feature is probably the most powerful networking tool offered by LinkedIn. The value is only fully understood by those who have updated it for a month on a daily basis.
Realize benefits today
There are two sides to the coin here and two suggestions follow. One addresses sharing your status and the second invites you to discover what's happening in your network. There is simply no easier nor better way of staying in touch with your network than learning to use the status feature.
To share what's up in your world try updating your status daily if possible for 30 days to see what happens. You can actually update it a few times if conditions warrant. All updates will be logged in your profile. Your network will be able to respond your status updates, suggesting solutions via personal messages to you alone, not your entire network.
An easy way to realize the benefits is to begin checking your LinkedIn homepage for status and profile updates on a regular basis. Do this as often as you might check your primary email account. Browsing the profile and status updates of your network reveals what's going on in your network. You can offer remarks in response to their status updates. These status updates are real time. The history of their status updates if shared will be seen within their profiles.
Additional Insights
Below you'll find insights and solutions that will assist you in resolving your LinkedIn challenges or will accelerate experiencing the benefits of social networking.
Crafting Your Profile
Your LinkedIn Profile and Google
Who to Invite - Processing Invitations
Multiple Accounts & the Side Effects