Like many other business professionals, I have a LinkedIn account. The easiest way to describe this is to call it a business version of Facebook. While I don't post daily activities, it is useful as a way to keep in touch with some of the contacts that I may only see from time to time. It even helped me in one situation where someone from another organization needed to contact me because their phone was stolen and they weren't sure when our meeting was supposed to be. They reached out to me via LinkedIn and we were able to connect successfully!
Social networking for business can be a delicate area. LinkedIn users often post a business résumé. No one is required to add any data, but most people freely contribute. The more information you put about yourself and your job, the more useful the tool is for the others in the network. For the most part, only individuals in your network can see your full profile. There is one major exception. While membership is free, there is a paid side of the service as well that allows individuals and companies to see everything that is posted. That can sometimes lead to unwanted solicitations.
Everyone has to come up with a strategy that works for them. I found an article that has some helpful tips and an interesting rule that the author uses to decide whether or not to accept LinkedIn invitations. I thought the "would you do a favor for this person or ask them to do a favor for you" a good rule of thumb.
Here is the link to the full article: http://blogs.hbr.org/samuel/2013/06/should-i-accept-that-linkedin.html?goback=%2Egde_42218_member_253236061
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