How to Update Your LinkedIn Profile Summary and Basic Information
When you have an idea of what you want to put in your LinkedIn profile’s Summary and Basic Information sections, it’s time to go into LinkedIn and plug that data into the correct fields.
1
Click the Profile link in the top navigation bar.
You’re taken to the Profile page.
2
Scroll down to the Summary section and click the Add Summary link below the Summary section header.
You see the Professional Summary page.
3
In the Professional Experience & Goals text box, enter a paragraph or two that sums you up professionally.
You’re limited to 2,000 characters, but keep your text concise and focused.
4
Scroll down to the Specialties text box and enter your skills and/or specialties.
Separate each item with a comma and don’t put any punctuation after the last item in your list. You don’t need to press Enter/Return between skills.
5
Click the Save Changes button to save your summary.
You’re taken back to your Profile page. Next, you need to update the Basic Information section of your LinkedIn profile.
6
Click the Edit link next to your name to update your professional headline and industry.
You now see the Edit Your Profile Name and Location page.
7
At the Edit Your Profile Name and Location page, double-check your name and add any maiden or former name in the text box provided. Next, enter your professional headline (your main job title).
You can put any job title here, but make sure it conveys your main role as you want others to see it. Also, if you want to maintain a higher level of privacy for your profile, you can choose the Display Name option so that only your first name and last initial show up on your public profile. If you select that option, your first-degree connections can see your full name, but the general public can see only your first name and last initial.
8
Click the drop-down arrow next to the Industry heading and select the industry you most associate with your career.
You can choose from more than 140 designations, so take a few moments to do a quick scan of the list. Note that some of the industries listed are more specific than others. You want to pick the best match possible. For instance, if you create custom graphics for Web sites, you could select Internet as your industry, but an even better choice would be Online Media.
9
Click the Save Changes button.
You’re taken back to your Profile page. You’ve now covered the core of your LinkedIn profile. In the next sections, you find out about the other essential elements to include in your profile, namely your current/past experience and education.
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attribute
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blacklist
An often-centralized list of e-mail addresses, URLs, and IP addresses used by spammers that are then forbidden in any blog post on your blog. With an up-to-date blacklist, a lot of spam is stopped before it becomes a comment.
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block
To stop all contact with a MySpace user. He can’t comment on your blog page or send you any message that you actually receive.
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blog
A combination of the words Web and log. Bloggers (individuals, groups, or businesses) post a chronological log of information. Content is determined entirely by the author(s) of the blog; many are personal journals.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
blog post
An entry in a blog, possibly containing text, images, and other media.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
blogger
The author of a blog.
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blogging policy
Outlines what you’re allowed to post in your blog.
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blogging software
Technology that enables you to blog. Can be either hosted or nonhosted.
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blogroll
A collection of links used or recommended by a blogger.
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cookie
A short piece of computer code, stored on your computer, that enables Web sites to remember certain settings and information the next time you visit that site.
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Dashboard
A kind of control panel in Blogger that shows you the blogs you’ve set up, giving you access posting, using help resources, or even creating another blog.
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definition list
A type of HTML list that gives a term and then its definition and has built-in spacing to lay out those elements properly.
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disk space
Amount of room available on your hard drive.
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domain
A domain is the address, or main URL, that people type in the browser to get to your Web site. The domain name you choose can’t be used by anyone else.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
domain registrar
A service that enables you to register a domain name.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
entry
An single posting in a blog containing text, images, or other media, or any combination of those things.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
Facebook
A social-networking service that enables you to keep in contact with families and friends via the Web.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
Flickr
A Web site that allows you to share, organize, edit, and otherwise manage your photos.
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Friend List
Your virtual online address book in MySpace. You can become someone’s friend by either sending a fellow MySpacer a Friend Request or by being on the receiving end of a Friend Request from another MySpace user.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
hosted services
Manages the data, software, and Web hosting of a blog; the blogger just manages the content.
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HTML
The computer coding used by Web designers to create Web pages.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
hyperlink
A navigation tool that allows a user to go from one Web location to another by clicking. Hyperinks (or just links) are typically underlined.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
hypertext reference
In HTML, the address that a hyperlink connects to when clicked. For example, in This link goes to <a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a>, the hypertext reference (href) is http://www.google.com. Hyperlink references can also jump to new positions on the same page, open a new e-mail message, or begin a file download.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
link
Short for hyperlink, a navigation tool that allows a user to go from one Web location to another by clicking. Links are typically underlined.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
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A self-test that flags inappropriate blog posts. If you’d let your mom read the post, then it’s probably passed the Mom test. Specifically, don’t blog about topics you think will hurt others; don’t blog about others without their permission, even about topics you consider inconsequential; and don’t identify friends and lovers by name without their permission.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
MySpace
A social-networking service that enables you to keep in contact with families and friends via the Web.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
MySpace profile
Your MySpace identity. It can contain as much or as little information about you as you’d like.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
news aggregation
The ability to aggregate news by using RSS feeds. Having a news aggregator included with your blog package allows your site to pull in information from another blog.
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nonhosted service
Blog software that you set up on your own Web server. It allows you to take on all responsibilities related to maintaining your blog.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
ordered list
Contains items that must be listed in a particular order, such as a list of ranks or preferences. It may also indicate a list of steps for the reader to follow.
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pinging
An automated notification system for search engines and newsreaders, letting those services know that your blog has been updated. A ping occurs when one computer asks another whether it’s there; the second computer confirms its presence.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
post
1. (noun) An entry in a blog containing text, images, other media, or any combination of these. 2. (verb) The act of creating and/or uploading a blog entry.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
private profile
A MySpace profile that’s limited on who can view it, such as only people on your Friend List.
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public domain
The status of publications, processes, and product designs that are free from copyrights and/or patents and are available for anyone's use.
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social network
A service, such as Facebook or MySpace, that enables to keep in touch with people you know — and meet people you don’t know.
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spam
Unsolicited electronic messages sent in bulk that may be commercial, nonsensical, or malicious. In addition to e-mail spam, blog comments and blog forums can be targeted by spammers.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
tag
A relevant keyword associated or assigned to a piece of information, such as an image, a blog entry, or a video clip. Tags are usually chosen informally by the content creator or by the online community; they help give content to nontext media and organize information for ease of searching.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
Trackback
A technology that tracks references to a blog posting that occurs on other blogs. They allow bloggers to link to blog posts on related topics.
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transparent
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unordered list
unordered list is a series of bulleted items and is used for lists that don’t require numbering.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
video blog
A blog consisting of video files, or the practice of placing a video file in a blog post.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
video-sharing service
A service, such as YouTube, that enables you to share video with others.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
Web host
The Web server where you software, graphics, and other files live online.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
Web server
Technology that looks at what Web page is requested and then feeds the browser the appropriate file. It does most of the hard work of serving Web pages to visitors coming to your Web site.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
whitelist
A list of preselected users who are allowed to comment on your blog.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
YouTube
A video-sharing service.
