[gregjor]

I wrote "fake network" to make fun of how too many people use LinkedIn and other social media. Boasting that 10,000 people follow your Twitter feed doesn't mean you have 10,000 friends who will help you land a job. I have found myself at the receiving end of aggressive networkers and like collectors. It starts to feel like an Amway conference.

If you find value in LinkedIn, great. I don't doubt that some people find ways to use it to build an actual professional network. I didn't try that, everyone in my network already knew me personally, and I had little incentive to expand beyond that. Personally I never got any job or freelance gig leads from LinkedIn, but I didn't try hard to use it for that either. I never had any trouble finding jobs or freelance work through word of mouth, friends, referrals. I did write "your mileage may vary" because I don't know that my experience with LinkedIn matches everyone else's.