Haven't logged into LinkedIn lately? 5 reasons you really should be using it

How much do you know about LinkedIn? Sure, you probably understand it’s a social network for professionals, but it’s so much more.

Unlike most social networks that are used to share the latest vacation pictures, LinkedIn was designed for more important reasons. It can help you make connections, share work experience and find or post jobs.

Your LinkedIn profile can be set up to look like a resume, complete with accomplishments and referrals from colleagues. If you’ve never experienced the power of LinkedIn, we can help. Here are five smart ways to use LinkedIn to network, poach employees, boast and more.

Visit LinkedIn.com/Kim and post a job for free.

1. Sales prospecting

If you’re wondering what sales prospecting is, it’s exactly what it sounds like — sorting through tons of companies and individuals to find prospects who will most likely turn into paying customers.

This can take a lot of time and effort and relies on knowing where to look. In the past, sales prospecting mainly consisted of cold calling and following up with every potential lead.

Now that we live in a digital world, those days are gone. Most buyers make decisions online. That’s where LinkedIn comes into play.

With about 1 billion members, LinkedIn is a leader in connecting buyers and sellers. One of the most important sales techniques is understanding how buyers behave, making prospecting easier with greater success.

An IDC social buying study revealed:

  • 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make buying decisions.
  • 50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn to make purchasing decisions.
  • 76% of B2B buyers prefer to work with recommendations from their professional network.

Those numbers prove how important LinkedIn is when it comes to sales prospecting. Information is power and LinkedIn is packed with information buyers are looking for.

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How to know if you’re being stalked or are just paranoid

I’ve heard it all on my national radio show. There was the guy totally freaked out because too many strangers in public knew his name for it to be a coincidence. (His name was Buddy.)

There was a woman who swore one of Metallica’s band members hacked her iPhone to stalk her after she rejected him online. And another who bought and sold three cars because she thought they all had hidden trackers.

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Police drone nabs a would-be burglar

Police in California nabbed a burglar near the Santa Monica Pier with a drone. The little guy spotted a car thief using a screwdriver to punch open locks in a parking lot. It called in officers and directed them to the exact location. Amazing, right?

✈️ Cheap flight cheat code: Go to Google Flights, select your departure location for a round-trip flight, then choose Anywhere as your destination. Leave the dates blank, and watch a map populate with the cheapest round-trip tickets available. From Phoenix, I could vacay in Cancún for $229, Seattle for $38 and Bora Bora for $1,341. I know what you’re thinking: “Kim, I’ve always wanted to go Bora Bora, but I’m poor’a-poor’a!”

3 ways grocery stores track you

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You’re not just buying dinner — retailers are watching your every move, from your purchases to your location.

🦅 The secret life of birds: The Motus Wildlife Tracking system has tagged nearly 50,000 birds, insects and bats with mini trackers to reveal their flight patterns. When an animal flies by one of 2,000 stations, its location is logged. A surprising and sad find? Only 40% of fledgling barn swallows in southern Ontario survive to migrate. ”Peep” at the data yourself.

6 feet

How closely a stalker can track someone using dating apps Bumble and Hinge. It’s not an exact location but pretty darn close. These apps ask for your location to find potential partners near you, but this is seriously scary.

🗺️ Awesome save: A woman who fell 60 feet down a mountain was saved because of the navigation app what3words (iOS and Android). The app divides the world into 10-foot squares, each named with a unique combination of three words to pinpoint an exact location (e.g., 51.520847, -0.19552100 ←→ filled.count.soap). With the coordinates, emergency responders knew precisely where the woman was located.

Real-time help: Pennsylvania emergency call centers now let people share live video during 911 calls. With a platform called Prepared, callers get a link that starts a live feed and pinpoints their location on a map. AI even transcribes and translates calls made in foreign languages. Look for this in more towns and cities across the country.

Never lose your car again: Google Maps can keep track of where you parked. On iPhone or Android, open the Google Maps app. Tap the blue dot that shows your location, then Save parking. Steps here to do it automatically every time.

🛤️ Stay safe: Fitness app Strava’s Heatmap feature shows popular workout routes … but it also broadcasts your location. This is fine in a busy city but risky on secluded paths. Keep your routes private: Go to Settings > Privacy Controls > Map Visibility and uncheck Contribute your activity data to de-identified, aggregate data sets.

Check your business’s Google Maps listing: Malicious competitors are using the “Suggest an edit” feature to change the location of a business’s pin on Google Maps. You probably wouldn’t know if this happened to you; Google doesn’t notify anyone. Duh.

Some 51% of people think sharing their smartphone PIN with a partner is normal and healthy. Checking internet search histories and tracking a partner’s location are a different story; 74% of those surveyed think location tracking is toxic, and that percentage jumps to 95% if the location tracking is done without the other party’s knowledge.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a cop! Police in California used a drone to nab a burglar near the Santa Monica Pier. The little guy spotted a car thief using a screwdriver to punch open locks in a parking lot, and it called in officers and directed them to the exact location. Here’s the video.

🔍 AirTag vs. Google’s Find My Device: Both devices were mailed to another state in an unofficial test. The AirTag continuously updated its location, while the Android tracker took 11 hours to ping its new whereabouts. At one point, the Find My Device tracker even lost track of its location. This is why I keep an AirTag in my cars.

📍 Where am I? Ask your smartphone! So handy on vacation or if you’re lost. You’ll get your address and location on a map, which you can then share. Just say, “Hey, Siri” or “Hey, Google,” followed by, “Where am I?”

Clues your spouse is spying on your phone

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More than half of Americans confess they’ve snooped on their partner’s phone, checking texts and location history. Is your significant other one of them? 

87% variation

In Chipotle bowl portions, depending on location. Finally, proof cranky Chipotle workers might be shorting you on barbacoa! Analysts weighed 75 identical bowls from eight Chipotle locations in NYC. The heaviest weighed almost twice as much as the lightest one. Oh, and all burritos are burrito-ful!

Do this before your next shindig: You can easily find your lost phone if you set this up ahead of time. Hey, why not do it now?

  • For iPhone: Go to Settings > [your name] > Find My. Tap Find My iPhone, then turn on Find My iPhone. To see your device even when it’s offline, turn on Find My network.
  • On Android: Go to Settings > Security > Find My Device. Or try Security & location or Google > Security. Make sure Find My Device is turned on.

Stop phone snoops

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What percentage of Americans routinely spies on their partners’ phones, checks their texts, and looks at their location history? You’ll be surprised at the answer. Plus, I’ll show you how to tell if you’re being spied on.