This New Tool is Better Than LinkedIn for Making Connections

This New Tool is Better Than LinkedIn for Making ConnectionsThis New Tool is Better Than LinkedIn for Making ConnectionsOne of the major perks of LinkedIn is that it shows you the path of connection through your current contacts to people you want to meet- allowing you to get intros to people who could help you get ahead in your career. The only problem with this is that LinkedIn doesnt actually take into account how well these people know each other. So when you ask your former colleague for an introduction to her connection at Verizon because youre hoping to get a job there, it could be a close connection of hers- or it could be someone she met once at a networking event two years ago and never spoke to again, making the introduction much less effective. Conspire wants to change that. The app plugs into your Gmail account to analyze the connections you interact with every day via email. Based on how much you communicate, Conspire judges how well you actually know these people One e mail months ago means youre probably just acquainted, while daily correspondence presumably means youre pretty tight. It then uses this information- along with information about their connections- to determine paths of connection and how strong they are.For example, if I wanted to meet someone who worked in content at Mashable to binnensee if I could learn anything to improve my own strategies, I could search editor Mashable and see my options. Once I choose an interesting-looking person- peeking at his or her Twitter and LinkedIn to see if its the right match for what Im looking for- I can click through to see paths of connection. I can choose which path looks the strongest and then easily ask for an introduction from within the app- though, of course, I recommend customizing the ask a little more (check out our guide for asking for an intro).You can search by title, company, or even by specific name if you know exactly who you want in your network next. As an added bonus, Conspire sends you a fascinating weekly email full of data about how you interact with your contacts- including who your strongest contacts are and who youre falling out of touch with.LinkedIn is great in a lot of ways, but most people dont use it every day, meaning it probably doesnt know as much about your connections as your inbox does. With the help of Conspire, you can tap into that. Photo of letters courtesy of Shutterstock.