Conan O’Brien

This video clip from the CONAN show landed on Youtube and other parts of the web today. Host Conan O’Brien talks about having a ‘digital presence’ and social media sites, as well as his digital team’s insistence that he have a LinkedIn account. What he says about LinkedIn is pretty funny. Have a look and then view my notes after the video:

I looked Conan up on LinkedIn and sure enough, he had a profile listed. My request to connect was accepted and I am now an official connection. Not sure the process his digital team went through to accept or deny all contact requests.  LinkedIn has been the one space where there’s not so many hallow or spammy accounts, so it’s likely that at this early stage, all of the folks who have requested to connect with Conan are, indeed, really people.

However, it made me think that LinkedIn may need to set up a verification system for high profile people, as Twitter and then Facebook has have. Soon after I connected with Conan, I saw a Jimmy Fallon profile. I’d love to connect with Jimmy Fallon, but I had no way to tell if it was an official profile.

I wonder, is this really the right space for celebrities and superstars to grow their fan base? Is LinkedIn prepared to somehow verify high profile accounts? Will the attention Conan gave to LinkedIn on his show have a lasting effect or just be a quick sizzle?

It will be interesting to see what happens in the weeks following. It’s funny – we are so used to talking about Twitter and Facebook on television. But when does LinkedIn ever get three minutes of air time? What are your thoughts?