When I first learned of LinkedIn, I was already a senior in college. It was in my last quarter of school and I just got around to learning about LinkedIn and what it had to offer. A year and half later, I consider it to be one of the most powerful networking tools around. So powerful in fact that I wish I had known about it my freshman year in college.

While it may be too late for me to turn back the clocks, it isn’t too late for others. As a professional, networking with other professionals both within my field and out, has led to several business opportunities. During college, while they stress the importance of building skills for you career, one area that could use attention is networking amongst your peers.

Building Connections Early

Looking back on my time in college, it seems as though it went by so fast. During that time, I met many people that I wish I stayed in touch with. While at the time I saw working with my fellow peers as just a way to get good grades, I now realize the opportunities I could have had if I had kept in better touch.

While Facebook is commonly used as one way to network with individuals, especially in college, LinkedIn still could serve as a great alternative to this. The biggest fault that many have against joining LinkedIn while they are in college is the lack of connections that they have and also the lack of experience. For many, they assume that to be on LinkedIn you should have a full-time job as well as know others in 9-5 jobs. While this has some valid points to it, LinkedIn is so dynamic that it has appeal to all levels of experience.

Full Blog, Twitter, and Facebook Integration

In what seems to be a growing trend among other social networking sites, LinkedIn allows users to fully integrate their Twitter accounts as well as their blogs. This is a huge appeal to those still in college as it allows them to ‘populate’ their LinkedIn page with information. This is important because prior to blogs and social networking sites being integrated in, the only information that was listed on a profile were job experience as well as basic information such as education and interests. College students are frequent users of social networking site Twitter,and by being able to add in their accounts, it makes them feel like their profiles aren’t so empty.

Build For The Future

Imagine if everyone in college started a LinkedIn account when they were just a Sophomore. Now imagine that of that group, you were able to ‘invite’ 1/4 of them into your LinkedIn network. By the end of your senior year, I wouldn’t doubt that you could have 200-300 LinkedIn connections. While you may not know all of them very well, having that lead is extremely valuable. You never know when you will need to contact someone who works at Disney or need someone to design your website.

There is a famous saying that says:

It’s not what you know, but who you know that makes the difference.

If that is the case, LinkedIn could be one of the most powerful tools we have today.

Joseph is the Director of Marketing at Viralogy.com & works in social media & sports consulting. Read more about him at http://JosephAYi.com .

Tags: College, Connections, LinkedIn, networking