[wallywax]

The "LinkedIn is useless" meme that seems popular here really baffles me, to be honest. Yes, there are many LinkedIn features that I don't get value from (including the news feed and endorsements). But I've found it invaluable for the one core feature it was built on: keeping in touch with your professional contacts. I'm not going to add all my former co-workers, the interesting people I talk to at conferences and counterparts at other companies on Facebook. I don't care what their kids are doing, or where they went on vacation. But I do want to know if they move to some other interesting job, find out if they're hiring or, most importantly, reach them in the future if I would like their advice or help. With my LinkedIn network, if I ever want to reach someone at Company X, whether it be to talk about a job opportunity or to tell them their API is broken, all I have to do is search that company name. Up comes a list of people at that company, and how connected I am to them. If I don't know anyone who currently works there, I probably know someone who does, and can get an introduction.

Before LinkedIn, I'd take business cards or exchange emails with contact information. I'd try to remember to enter it into my addressbook, or file it somewhere I can find it later. Good luck searching it, and if you do find someone and they've moved to a new job, the contact info you have might be totally out of date anyway.

It isn't just a hyped up resume. A great Github profile, blog or Twitter account does little to replace LinkedIn's functionality. If you're looking at it as just a way to be found by recruiters, you're doing it wrong. It's about keeping in touch with a broad network of professional contacts. Not people I talk to every day, but people I like, respect, and know I can reach out to if I need help (and vice versa). Despite all the annoying things they do, I find it extremely useful.

[bambax]

Upvoted. I really don't see myself using LinkedIn this way, but I understand that you do.

(All my LinkedIn contacts are people I know personaly. When I need to contact them I use my address book where I store their personal email address, and mobile phone # which aren't on LinkedIn. If I need to contact someone I don't know, I don't think about going through LinkedIn; maybe I should.)

[henrik_w]

Well said. LinkedIn is also useful if you want more information on a company (if, say, you are considering working there). Search for the company and see who works there. Checking out a few of the profiles of people working there to get a sense of who they are (what they know, where they worked before etc). If you know any of them, or are linked, it's an extra bonus.

[cmccabe]

A lot of HN users dump on any social network that isn't Facebook (or their new version for dogs, of course). Never mind that LinkedIn is quite useful, and the only social network that actually has managed to monetize itself reasonably well...