LinkedIn really Professional Social Networking?

Is the most popular professional social networking site actually a social networking site? When networking the main intention is to actually come across new people in your industry and make new connections. Does linkedin allow you to do this? Linkedin has become more of an online resume more so then a social networking site. When applying for a job today it is very common to include a link to your linkedin profile. Linkedin allows you to describe your current and previous jobs and your responsibilities at them. It also allows you to add people you know and have worked with in the present and past. This allows you to gain recommendations for that job position. Recommendations allows companies to observe that you have people that say in other words that you are great at what you do.

The problem with linked in is that there is no interactivity in the website. There is no reason to go back and check on your profile and to keep coming back and spending time on the site. They have been trying to solve this problem with groups and also with status updates. The problem is that the foundation of the site was based on the idea of your online resume and now it is very hard to get the social networking wheels spinning.

Also there should be an easier way to meet people that are in your industry. Maybe even suggested people on your profile page like Facebook does. This would allow you to start making new connections in your industry which are always a great thing to have.

So is Linkedin really a professional networking tool? Not so much as it is a online resume, even though they are trying to get there. Hopefully someone will create a more intuitive professional social networking site.