Surround yourself with Blockchain & Crypto on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an incredible resource. I have made friends & keep making them, linked up with people who turned into future colleagues & constantly meet potential business partners here. However, there is another aspect of LinkedIn that appeals to me equally as much as the other obvious benefits. It may not be that obvious but I use LinkedIn as a knowledge resource.
Beyond the obvious use for building successful relationships, connections, and/or marketing leads, LinkedIn presents an opportunity for users to exploit the wealth of intrinsic insights embedded in the mass of social data publicly available. The best in business make this a habit to extend their advantage & keep ahead of the pack.
This extends to the two domains of Blockchain & Cryptocurrency that this article discusses about.
If you are a LinkedIn regular, it is relatively easy to obtain knowledge & learn about the current affairs in any domain.
Here is a summary of how LinkedIn can be useful to successful professionals who wish to learn more about Blockchain & Cryptocurrency:
Knowledge Discovery:
· Exposure to basic terminology, history, insights
· Informative Content, infographics & links to learning sites outside of LinkedIn
· Daily news updates about Blockchain & Crypto from around the world
· Impact of these technologies on the society around the world
· Explore LinkedIn Learning courses about Blockchain & Crypto
Building Social & Community Networks:
· Discover Who’s Who & the influencers of the Blockchain + Crypto community. Follow them so that their content is added to your feed.
· Discover & join LinkedIn Groups. This is a massive resource. Do not ignore its power.
· Find out about Conferences & Events — Photos, Summaries, Takeaways
· Finding Peers worldwide, networking with them
· Finding Local peers, meetups
· Participating & contributing to on platform discussions
Obtain information about legal issues & Assess Public opinions:
· Latest Legal positions of various jurisdictions & the thought process that goes in to both the ‘for’ & ‘against’ arguments.
· Assessing Public opinions & sentiments from across the world
Note:
· Beware of people who pitch a particular cryptocurrency (aka. coin) or a type of Blockchain. Usually, there are vested interests in giving you that ‘advice’
· Stay clear of people selling the following on LinkedIn: Bitcoins, Ethereum, Altcoins, giveaways, coins, privileged insider information or what appears to be inside information, trading courses or conference tickets.
· Remember this very carefully please: No one ever gives away coins. Do not click on any links which promise giveaways.
Broadly, LinkedIn offers Knowledge Discovery, Social & community Network Effects & keeps you aware of any legal pitfalls surrounding participation in cryptocurrency markets
Let’s take a quick dive into each benefit:
Knowledge Discovery-
Dozens of informative articles about Blockchain & Crypto are published daily on LinkedIn every day.
Here are some Blockchain & crypto focussed publishers worth following on LinkedIn:
· CoinDesk
And some legacy media publishers who post news articles about these technologies often:
· Bloomberg
· CNBC
· Forbes
These articles are usually reports of current affairs across the world. However, in the usual vein of reporting, you will also find infographics, occasional immersive long reads & references to events of relevant historical significance. If one has the time to allocate to dedicated studying rather than the usual browse through, do check out dedicated pages on their websites that are basically Blockchain 101 & Crypto 101.
Here are the links:
https://www.coindesk.com/information/
https://cointelegraph.com/explained
https://www.ccn.com/learn-about-bitcoin/
Traditional media groups do not yet have such learning resources that are kept updated & relevant.
If your interest is primarily Crypto market prices, then CNBC has a dedicated page to it: https://www.cnbc.com/cryptocurrency/
A quick link to Forbes Crypto news page: https://www.forbes.com/digital-money/#4af082dd53d1
If Video is your thing, you may wish to watch Ran Neuner’s show about Crypto on CNBC: https://www.cnbcafrica.com/tag/ran-neu-ner/
However, for Prices & market coverage, it is always efficient to refer to Crypto publications such as CCN or CoinDesk than traditional Media. The data in Crypto publications is more extensive.
CoinMarketCap has been the most widely quoted resource for Crypto Prices. It is fairly extensive than the rest.
Do explore LinkedIn Learning too for courses & videos. There are about 62 results displayed within LinkedIn Learning when queried ‘Blockchain’. Here is the link to go directly to LinkedIn Learning
Social & Community Network effects:
I place an asymmetrical importance to people in my life.
So, let’s delve into people in Blockchain & Crypto:
It is worthwhile to know who are the heavyweights in the Blockchain world. CoinTelegraph has such a list called ‘Top people in Blockchain’
On that list are some noteworthy examples that you can follow on LinkedIn. Here are their LinkedIn profiles:
Andreas M. Antonopoulous, Author of Mastering Bitcoins, The internet of Money
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amantonopoulos/
Balaji Srinivasan, CTO of CoinBase
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balajissrinivasan/
Barry Silbert, Founder of Digital Currency Group & linked to Coindesk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrysilbert/
Chris Dunn, Trading manager at Blockchain Capital LLC
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-dunn-b38a75158/
Jimmy Song, Venture Partner at Blockchin Capital LLC
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmysong/
Don Tapscott, a renowned speaker & thinker
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dontapscott/
Joseph Lubin, Founder of Consensys Labs
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-lubin-48406489/
Tuur Demesteer, Chief Editor at Adamant Research
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tuurdemeester/
Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum Cryptocurrency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitalik-buterin-267a7450/
Vinny Lingham, Co-founder & CEO of Civic
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinnylingham/
I would also recommend that you follow the following individuals who are actively share content on LinkedIn:
Darren Marble, CEO of CrowdFundX & contributor Inc Magazine
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenmarble/
Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano, Founder & Partner at Morgan Creek Capital, Featured speaker
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonypompliano/
Peter Bergstrom, CEO Bitblock Ventures, Speaker
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbergstrom/
George Popescu, Managing Partner at BlockX ventures
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gapopescu
Robby Schwertner, aka CryptoRobby
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robby-schwertner/
Beyond them, LinkedIn will start prompting connections that you may know because of topics that you like & people that you follow.
Do look into following other people you have not met to expand your network & collaborate.
Sociologist Mark Granovetter, in 1973, published a paper called ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’. He opined that Social Capital (who you know) are more likely to land you a job than traditional resources (search, recruitment etc).
And most of the time, jobs were found not through close friends and relatives but through casual acquaintances, neighbours, and other “weak ties”.
Leveraging weak ties, Granovetter concluded, allows us to tap into knowledge not available in our inner circle, which tends to be composed of people like ourselves. Weak ties however are not sturdy enough to be leant on heavily in times of desperate need. However, they are balanced by the nature of being ‘low maintenance’. Thanks to LinkedIn, the expansion of weak tie network is truly global & quick. It is common for most of us to send a connect request to those that you met at a conference or somewhere. However, that could lead to a very narrow group of people in terms of professional diversity. Do always consider accepting LinkedIn requests from strangers & evaluate suggested connections by LinkedIn openly.
Always be curious & open to connecting with the next person on LinkedIn.
Do proactively join groups dedicated to Blockchain & Crypto in LinkedIn Groups. There are some Blockchain LinkedIn groups that have more than 30K members! Explore & find some that are useful to your taste.
Legal news & Public Opinions -
LinkedIn feeds are usually kept up to date about the latest legal changes from across the world. This is specially more relevant to CryptoCurrency markets than Blockchain. It is always worth a ton of gold to stay in line with passage of Bills, laws & by-laws in different jurisdictions regardless whether you invest in CyptoCurrency or not.
I learnt about the recent SEC clearing Ethereum as not being a security when someone shared it on LinkedIn. And that happened within 30 mins of the news breaking out elsewhere. It was fairly quick. Obviously the person posting that news article evaluated LinkedIn as a place that they should share this news quickly so that their network hears it. There is immediacy & relevance on LinkedIn.
Caution: Regardless of what is stated in this article, LinkedIn articles should never be construed as legal advice. Never rely on the information received over the internet as investment advice. Do seek legal opinion from registered legal practitioners in your own jurisdiction prior making any investment, transfer or receipt of ‘coins’. Do also take note that sometimes investments cross state & international borders. What may be legal in your jurisdiction may not be so in another jurisdiction where your counterparty exists.
A couple of personal tips to create a sustainable learning network on LinkedIn for the long term:
· Be Social. This is a network of people. The same guidelines that apply in real world also apply on LinkedIn.
· Try to provide value, regardless of whether you receive it upfront or not. And as a community, greater benefits are achieved by contribution of everyone. it is ok to lurk around and absorb information. But never consider your opinion as insignificant. Spark conversations, exchange views.
· Admit upfront that you are looking to learn. People are more open to those who seek knowledge. Never spam your contacts!
· Search #hashtags relevant to Blockchain & crypto to obtain more leads & learning content.
If I have to sum it up, in one sentence: Knowledge is wealth that resides in your network and it is beneficial to nurture your network
I hope that you found this article informative. If you did think that this article is share worthy, Please share it with your Network so that they may learn too!
