I registered on LinkedIn last December, but was not really using it until late February. Then I had started my jobhunting project, and jumped into it fully with the intention and expectation that it will help me.

One of the things that I really like is the fact that you can not just connect to anyone, because if you got refused there are consequences – I never tried what those are, but I think it’s something like the system will demand some data to prove that you know the person.

The other is the Questions and Answers section. That was the way I met someone who really helped me a lot since then. It is not a Forum like on Xing, you put up a Question and everyone has a chance to write ONE Answer. One and not more. Later, he can add clarification to his answer, as the person placing the question can add a clarification to his question too, but there is no chance to start a long flame war.

There is also a rating system, each answer can be rated as a good answer and one as the best answer, with the best answer giving an “expertise” in the field of the Question, but I don’t really pay heed to the expertise bit, only over 20 best answers. And even then I would check out the answer that was deemed the best. (For example, I have expertise in Job Search , Government Policy and Using LinkedIn with 1 best answer in each Category. Now, if you want to know about Government Policy, don’t come to me or you will be disappointed )

Another thing I really like is the Recommendations bit, even if we all know that not all of them are valid. But I trust them 80% – and yes, if you ask me to recommend you, I will answer honestly if I would rather not. Some people does not want to seem rude, and will give a vague recommendation, I will take the risk and will answer with a polite no.

What I absolutely don’t like on LinkedIn is the way groups are handled. There is simply no way to see what groups are there, all you can do is go over the profiles and if you see a group that seems relevant you can check it out. But no Group Search function in LinkedIn.

Some people mentioned that people on LinkedIn are not too active. Given the number of Questions asked and Answered on any day, including the weekends and holidays, I think that’s not true. But one thing is sure,LinkedIn does not try to build a community, it just gives a chance to discover connections, find new people, provides a kind of directed forum to ask and answer questions, but sort of forces us to take the whole connection thing to the next level – e-mail, twitter, phone, whatever. It does not have an Events part, it does not give you an unlimited number of messages to shoot at strangers, but the core functionality is well implemented I think. Build a network, and discover what it gives you. That’s all.

I don’t want to decide if it’s a good or bad thing, but it clearly shows that LinkedIn is a tool for one thing and does not want to do too many things at once.

Once they have the API published and “complete”, I expect to see a lot of auxiliary services to pop up, group sites integrated with LinkedIn, debate forums integrated with LinkedIn, linked-in mapping mash-ups, and so on. That definitely has the advantage of letting the LinkedIn staff concentrate on the core functionality.

So what do you think?

I have to admit, that I was already on LinkedIn when I registered on Xing, and that probably skewes my perception a bit, but I think not too much.

When I went to Xing, I did all the usual things, register, set up a profile, and there I ran into my first problem. When you fill out the Professional Experience block, Xing doesn’t really care about the years you enter with your workplaces, the topmost position will be the one you entered last. And there is no way to reorganize it – at least, I did not find any. So after I gladly entered everything, I spent about half an hour to creat a blank position, and move content in the right order, and then to delete the on at the bottom. Not a good start.

Then, I set out to explore the big vast land of Xing, and here came the most painful surprise. When I regitered, I just wanted a simple membership. A simple, non-premium membership, which is free, so I can try out Xing. Now, there is a free membership all right. Only problem is that you can’t do anything with that. You can use a limited search option, but if you click on a profile, it takes you to an upgrade page.

What does it mean? Well, if you have a basic, non-paying membership, then you actually got a site where you put on a very limited version of your CV, fill out the Haves and Wants, and wait for people to find you. Like a very simple job resume site, like Monster, or Totaljobs, only I joined Xing for a different reason.

Ok, you can join groups, and post on the group forums, but that’s it, it’s rather difficult to connect people with a basic profile.

Now came my birthday, and I got a 10 days premium membership as a gift, and now I can try it out for a bit more. Differences: you can set your status message. Yes, if you are a premium member, you can tell the world, that you are Working on a technical specification for a client. For 5.95 EUR.

But wait, there are more differences, you can actually click on the profiles when you search for people, and you are taken to the profile page. Now, we can start to use it. Lots, and lots of empty profiles. About a dozen I found points to their LinkedIn profile.

Now, there are good things in Xing too, and it is useable with a premium profile for sure. I like the Wants section, I like that you can search for groups. There are a lot more Continental Europeans than on LinkedIn.

The Employment status is a nice thing, but not overly important. On one hand I like that I can see the profile of those who checked my profile, but it means that you cannot hide it like on LinkedIn (note, I don’t really mind that, I don’t hide it even on LinkedIn. I click on you, you see it was me).

I like the Event part, although most of the time I decline them – first invite for an Event on Xing was for senior management. Still don’t know why I got that one. However, now I got an invitation to a BBQ party not too far from my place, I am going to check it out. And there will be golf too. Probably won’t fit in with the crowd, but sounds like a good evening programme :).

So that it. If you buy premium membership, it is an OK thing I think. If you work in Europe, go for it.

But it actually does not give you anything over LinkedIn. There are no non-group forums. No Answers & Questions, no recommendations. Actually, the whole premium membership does not give you anything beyond the ability to use the site.

On the other hand, on LinkedIn you can have all of it for free. And more contacts, more active community. And the A&Q section beats the Forums hands down, where you have dozens, hundreds of 1 post threads, and only for group members.

So now comes you, tell me what’s your take on Xing?

Now, first step is to find out how to pull the page here – I know what url to read, but not really good with php yet, so it will take a while for me to display it properly.