Ng: Professional network

A FEW weeks back, I tweeted how a Twitter post got a PBA player suspended and given a record fine. Somebody in basketball did it again. This time, it’s colorful personality and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Last Saturday, Dallas lost, and Cuban tweeted “@Mcuban. Im sorry NBA fans. Ive tried for 13 yrs to fix the officiating in this league and I have failed miserably. Any Suggestions ? I need help”

That post was retweeted nearly 3,000 times and incurred the ire of NBA officials.

Because of it, Mark Cuban was fined $50,000. That probably translates to a very expensive non-advertising tweet, although it’s probably good publicity. If you didn’t know Mark Cuban before, there’s a chance you’d know him now and in major papers where whole page ads cost thousands of dollars, he’s probably getting more than his money’s worth.

This is not the first time Mark has been fined. Mark is a billionaire and an active blogger, and a similar remark against an NBA referee got him fined $25,000 in 2009.

On another note, you probably are familiar with Facebook. But while it has reached over a billion users, there is another social network that you might want to look into - LinkedIn .

Linkedin is a business or professional social network that is available in over 200 countries and in 19 languages. The other day, they announced that they have reached 200 million members. It may just be a fifth of what Facebook has but many corporations are paying good money to be in Linkedin and to advertise and use its services.

Linkedin is not a place where you post about where you went or what you ate or even your photo library. It is a place where people look for contractors, employees and partners and is thus a rich trove of place to look for professionals or managers.

So you don’t play games there and for many it is almost boring. But LinkedIn is growing rapidly and its stock is faring much better than Facebook’s (it also went public over a year ago). The company was founded in 2003. I have been a member since 2004 and have a few hundred “connections.” The company announced that it reached 100 million users after eight years, in March of 2011. Now less than two years later, it garnered another 100 million to hit 200 million.

For its profile, 74 million members are from the US, while India is at second place with 18 million. This is no surprise as this is probably the best place to connect with IT or BPO companies. UK and Brazil are both tied with about 11 million members.

(www.twitter.com/wilsonng)