Getting the Best from Your Ecademy Membership

Regular Sciencetext contributor Wayne Smallman of technology news site Blah Blah Tech alerted me to the existence of Ecademy as a much more powerful alternative to LinkedIn. LinkedIn can be very useful, and I posted a collection of tips on how to make the most of that networking site, but Ecademy, Smallman tells me, is so much more, with built in blogging and other wonders.

As such, I thought it worth testing out and within seconds of joining I had been contacted by half a dozen members. A few of those early messages were very gracious offering all kinds of help and assistance. I suspect one or two of them were simply spammy scams, but not all.

Jim Tuffin, for instance, may have had something to sell, but he also offered me some useful advice, which he kindly allows me to repeat here.

Ecademy can be a little confusing until you get used to it, he says, but you cannot do any damage… so have a good explore.

Here are Jim’s top tips for making the most of your early days in the Ecademy.

• When replying to a message, it is best to do so, using the top link in the message or from the Ecademy website, and then your reply is recorded against your profile in Ecademy so that you always know what has been said. It is important to reply, as communication is the basis of networking.
• If you are not a seasoned Networker the first thing to grasp is that it is very important to give of yourself. Don’t expect anything in return! Look for ways of connecting people you know to others. Always look for those opportunities to help other. Your reward will be tenfold!
• Of course, if you are looking for something you must ask, otherwise how do we know what we need to do!
• Ecademy is a place for everyone to network and exchange details. Include things in your profile about you, your likes, dislikes, desires, dreams, passions, hobbies etc and of course what you do and how you might be able to help those who connect with you. People tend to connect first because they find something of common interest.
• Evidence indicates that the more personal you are the greater number of good contacts you make. This is especially true when compiling your 50 words.
• It is always best to write in the first person, i.e. from you, rather than a third person which can lack sincerity. Include a photo of yourself if you can. This adds great strength to your profile and for obvious reasons helps to build trust between two people.

So, there you have it Jim Tuffin’s top tips. I’ve already implemented them in my Ecademy profile and in my interactions with other Ecademy members. If you’re bored with LinkedIn and find it really isn’t making you any new network contacts, check out Ecademy. You never know, I might be one of your first contacts on there and it definitely won’t be spam. So, feel free to leave your Ecademy profile URL in the comments to this post and let’s get networking.