Whenever I mention LinkedIn, I’m likely to get this response: “I signed up and I have contacts, but I really haven’t figured out what to do with it.”

This leads me to explain how I use LinkedIn: When I need expertise—usually for an article I’m writing—I search my network for that expertise and invariably find a variety of people who can provide just the information I need. I also note that many people use it for job-hunting, both the job hunters and the companies seeking to hire. Some of the folks I talk to are able use this approach as a springboard to other uses; others just shrug and continue to allow their accounts to stagnate.

Fortunately, Guy Kawasaki has listed 11 uses for LinkedIn, many of which hadn’t occurred to me, including peforming reference checks, improving Google page ranks, and gauging the health of an industry. Kawasaki continues to add new uses that emerge from comments to his post. (One trackback Kawasaki received notes that LinkedIn has launched a new “answer service” that lets members of the network both ask and answer questions. It’s an excellent list and instructive for anybody trying to figure out what to do with that free LinkedIn account they obtained when someone invited them to join a network.