I got contacted very recently by someone looking for expertise in usability. He found me on LinkedIn which makes that the third time anyone has contacted me for opportunities based on my profile. The experiences I've had have been really positive. I find LinkedIn to be amazing because it's a real shortcut for both job seekers and headhunters, and it can be more usefull if you'll buy followers for your profile at Smm-World here - https://www.smm-world.com/buy-linkedin-followers.
Firstly, there's transparency with LinkedIn. I get to choose what people see on my profile. It beats having to speak to headhunters who call me from a secret database of people, because they will never tell me how they got my phone number. I feel less threatened if a headhunter contacts me through LinkedIn rather than a random phone call.
Secondly, LinkedIn is like a personal career blog - headhunters read my profile like a storybook, because I put effort to make it read a certain way. I've found that all my new acquaintances on LinkedIn were like career conversations that sort of pick up where I left off. People who get in touch with me talk to me as though they already know me. So, I react in the same way. It really saves a lot of time, and it's more pleasant talking to people that way, even during a first meeting. This just beats first time phone conversations, where time is wasted explaining to the headhunter my interests and goals.
Thirdly, it feels more appropriate for someone to introduce opportunities through LinkedIn than over the phone. LinkedIn is a good place to meet people. I invest quite a bit into building my presence in LinkedIn, though not very thoroughly. I got my profile to 100% completeness. I also spent time writing recommendations to people, subscribe to groups, and answering questions. Somehow I feel better when someone wants to speak to me over a network that I've already built an interest in, and I can view their profile too.
Fourthly, I get a better sense of what value I portray to people who want to meet me over LinkedIn. I don't get this with headhunters who call me over the phone. To those people, I'm just a guy with 8 years of Java experience in the telecoms industry. But with LinkedIn, those who got in touch with me seem to understand me better, and it's rewarding to know that they're trying to match my goals, instead of just my skills, with their requirements.
I do agree to some extent with Jeff Pulver that LinkedIn isn't as good as Facebook for social networking (if even for business), but I prefer it that way. I like how LinkedIn is really designed with that corporate no-nonsense feel. I'd be embarrassed if a potential employer read odd posts on my Facebook Wall. I prefer to keep my work and personal life a bit more separate than others. I don't mind employers reading this blog, though.
Finally, it's true that blogging about your career helps your personal brand. But LinkedIn is that glue that holds everything together. One guy I met mentioned that he got my contact through my blog, while he was looking through my profile. He picked up on a few articles I posted, and we had a good chat. I don't blog about industry topics that much on my blog, but there was something authentic and consistent across the profile and the blog posts. People get a better sense of connection about that.