Linkedin is a social network that is designed to help poeple make business connections and have an online resume. It was launched in May of 2003 and has been gaining popularity ever since. As of January 1 of this year, it had over 90 million user accounts. Dim lights

The site allows people to upload a picture of themselves, outline past job experiences and write/receive references from other users that were colleagues. Instead of "adding a friend" as you would do in the Facebook world, on Linkedin you make "connections." This ties in with the networking theme of the site.

Linkedin provides you with suggested connections and allows you to see people that you have a mutual connection with. This allows you to branch out and contact future employees/employers through people you already know.

It also gives you the opportunity to message others on the site.

It is free to sign up, but if you ware wanting to message someone you are not connected with, there is a fee.

Linkedin also provides users with a home page with updates from all of their connections. It also gives users the opportunity to join groups, search for jobs and connect with those who are "degrees" away from you.

For instance, on my profile I have 50 direct connections. Because of their connections, I have over 3,700 connections that are one degree away. We have one person linking us together. And because of those connections, I have over 391,500 connections that are two degrees away. Linkedin allows me to search these potential connections and allows people to expand their network.

To visually demonstrate this, please  look at Fig 1-3. Fig. 1 has a blue line connecting two people, representing a first degree connection. In Fig. 2, the orange dotted line represents a  second degree connection. Fig. 3 illustrates a third degree connection.

Linkedin is definitely a key component in the future of job hunting and networking.