Linked In, and How You Can Screw Up On It

While looking at twitter searches for #PR, I found this little number: http://bit.ly/6HQ1AQ?r=td
on a website called New Grad Life. Seeing as I'm just one year away from being a grad, and being a LinkedIn user, I decided to peruse the article, and found that apparently, I'm making a ton of huge mistakes.
Not only do I not have a personal URL (I don't think so, anyway), but I also don't have a company website for my internships and professional experience. Until NSAC gets a website, and my current job (at a nonprofit organization) adds interns to their website, it's somewhat irrelevant to put my company website on my LinkedIn page. My page is already set to public, which is both a blessing and a curse. Though it's public, I've never heard anything from anyone about liking my information or seeking an employee like me.
Aside from those, there were two points I could see I was lacking and I agree with fully.
You should be participating in discussions. Among all of my social networking platforms, it seems exhausting to try and keep up with everyone. So yes, I let my LinkedIn discussions lapse. This seems like an important place for me to channel some energy, more important than say, Facebook, but this is the place where I'm going to meet professionals and get my name out there. By not stepping into the spotlight, I'm doing a great job at existing but not contributing to the LinkedIn Community.
You should be giving recommendations, and heck, sometimes asking for them.
The first time I got on linkedIn, I recommended three of my 7 connections almost immediately. I've since grown my network to considerably larger, but failed to keep up with the recommendations. For the students I've worked with, I should be touting their successes along with my own, and in some cases, asking for reciprocation. This is something I plan to work on.

There is one part that I really didn't agree with: Not updating status often.
This isn't Facebook. I don't link my tweets to my LinkedIn profile because let's face it, LinkedIn connections don't want to hear about bands I like, reporters I'm talking to or restaurants I appreciate. The articles that I tweet about, I most often link here on my blog. I update my status once every weeks to what I'm currently looking for or what I have achieved. I think that suffices. It gives me enough personality and action without being obnoxious.

LinkedIn is definitely a platform I need more experience in and exposure to. I'm making this one of my goals: to get more active and more proficient at LinkedIn relationships.