Is LinkedIn Missunderstood?

With all of the excitement and hype about Twitter and Facebook, what about LinkedIn? What is it good for anyway? it seems that LinkedIn is not well understood. For example, Current.tv recently ran this video (this should have a PG13 rating):

LinkedIn is so much more than what is portrayed in this video. A couple of quick thoughts:

Career Management
LinkedIn is a great tool for managing your career.  It has never been easier to locate people within organizations. Check out these stats on LinkedIn users:

Check out the number of senior and middle level managers on LinkedIn. Over 3.7 million LinkedIn users work in companies that employee between 50 and 500 people. Over 7 million users are Director level and above. (See more demographics here).  It is relatively easy to locate and connect organizations using LinkedIn.

Social Media & advertising
Check this out ... if you want to use word of mouth and other social media techniques this is compelling:

Professional Brand Building
I don't think there is a better tool for building your professsional brand. Complete your profile, recommend others (and you will receive recommendations), jump into groups and participate, and use the status update. For a few tips, see Guy Kawaski's post on making over your profile.

The tool is only as good as you make it. If you want a return, you need to invest time and energy in your network. Try it out ... it's worth that investment.

Rick