I'm finding that people seem reluctant to join my network (except for my close, immediate contacts) and I'm thinking that its that maybe people don't

Alison's Contribution:

Good question - which I have faced as well. As a tool, LinkedIn provides some great resources which can be used by people in many different ways.

I read your question to mean both current and not yet users of LinkedIn. Where people have not used a on-line tool like LinkedIn, there is certainly some resistance to going on-line. I've got lots of former colleagues who are like this.

I'm one of those who has switched career paths in order to make time for my family. I've certainly found in that there are different perceptions between job functions about how LinkedIn gets used.

If you are looking to expand your already at Linked network quickly, I would recommend going to www.toplinked.com and coming up with a personalised invitation to avoid the "I don't know Mark" response. Just because they have a lot of connections, doesn't mean that they connect to everyone.

Next comes the issue of collaboration or competition with people in the same work arena. Regardless of which side of the fence you're on, I think it's best to come up with a personalised approach.

The last thing which springs to mind is the safety in numbers aspect. For on-line network building, I think it's easier when people can see that you have a number of contacts in common OR that you can extend their reach because you have a network of people to which they don't yet have access.

My final point is to include your linked in Public Profile in every email signature and use it on every email you send. You may find in future that people you run across "never knew" you were on LinkedIn or they may just have found it and then they run across you. Some of my contacts have multiple profiles simply because they forgot they had already signed up.

Hope this helps.