As the year comes to a close, it is time to look back, before looking forward to 2010, at all of the informative and insightful blog posts that the world has created in the past 365 days concerning LinkedIn.  LinkedIn itself, while beginning 2009 at a slow start, ended the year announcing 50 million members, integrating with Twitter, a new user interface, and an opening up of their platform.  Not to mention that they refined and improved upon the most valuable piece of their social networking platform, the Advanced People Search.  Oh, and then there was the new Profile Organizer application, while may not having value at $25 a month, is certainly recommended at the “hidden” $5 a month Personal Plus Account (wish I could get commissioned for all those who signed up after reading my blog post

So, with the above in mind, I wanted to share with the world my own picks as to what I thought were the most useful LinkedIn blog posts of 2009.  I used a number of factors when considering which were the best blog posts to recommend to you all, but I hope you’ll appreciate the list and use it as a resource moving forward in 2010.  Within each section I have ordered the listing in descending order by most retweets on Twitter at the time of this post, which are indicated in brackets.  Warning: Those with the most tweets were those listed on Mashable, which in itself guarantees the post will get a LOT of retweets.  So don’t let that scare you into not reading some of the posts that got fewer tweets, as they are of comparable quality.

One closing note on 2009 is that I personally wrote 93 LinkedIn-related blog posts in 2009 and released my own book on LinkedIn, Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn this year.  If you don’t have the time to read through all of the blog posts or you simply want an indexed reference for all of your LinkedIn activities with insightful advice on social networking and personal branding on LinkedIn, look no further and buy my book  I have also sprinkled the below list with top suggestions from my own LinkedIn blog posts for your reference.

General LinkedIn Tips & Advice

There were a number of great LinkedIn blog posts in 2009 that covered a lot of general or social networking tips for using the site.  Here were the ones that I deemed most useful:

7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn by Sharlyn Lauby [2,111].  Good summary of LinkedIn strategies for those who may not be fulling utilizing their LinkedIn presence.

8 Tips for Managing a LinkedIn Group by Jessica Faye Carter [719].  While not everyone “owns” their own LinkedIn Group, they play a valuable role in LinkedIn.  I was pleasantly surprised to find an excellent article with tips on how to manage a Group, but it is also relevant for those who want to get more out of LinkedIn Groups as well.

HOW TO: Do Good on LinkedIn by Christina Warren [569].  Paying it forward and doing good for others is the centerpiece of Windmill Networking.  This unique article gives advice on how to help others on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn – 22 Ways to Dominate by Jay Baer [90].  A list of 22 things you should be doing on LinkedIn.  Includes a nice SlideShare presentation.

7 Ways to Use LinkedIn as a Real Networking Tool by Arik Hanson [66].  People often forget that LinkedIn is a social networking platform.  This nice little post gives advice on how to utilize LinkedIn in this respect.  Once again, the article is well aligned with the tenets of Windmill Networking.

12 Ways to Use LinkedIn Today by Ari Herzog [19].  I like Ari and have been following his tweets and blog posts.  Smart guy.  This blog post also offers a good summary of advice for everyone who may be neglecting their LinkedIn presence.

17 Invisible LinkedIn Tricks Revealed by Thomas R. Clifford [?].  A very clever article proposing ways of using LinkedIn that we often forget about.  A+ for creativity!

(Some other posts to consider would be my own 25 LinkedIn Etiquette Tips to Ponder [13] as well as What is LinkedIn and Why Should You Join? [28]).

Improving Your LinkedIn Profile

10 LinkedIn Tips to Optimize Your Profile by Kevin Gibbons [352].  This article takes the unique approach of looking at optimizing your LinkedIn Profile for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes.  1/2 of LinkedIn is about being found (the other 1/2 about finding others), so SEO should play an integral role in your LinkedIn strategy.

How to Ensure Your LinkedIn Profile is Effective by Meryl Evans [82].  An excellent article looking at how to better optimize your LinkedIn profile.

Embedding Video Into Your LinkedIn Profiles by Ron Callari [82].  Embedding video into your LinkedIn Profile is nothing new, and I cover how to do this in detail in my LinkedIn book.  However, it seems that many people are still not aware that this is possible, and this clever article should be recommended by covering this fact using its own video.

Seven Top LinkedIn Mistakes and Their Fixes by Sean Nelson [2].  Sean Nelson is a true thought leader with regards to LinkedIn, and I have enjoyed his blog posts so much that I added him to my blog roll as well as mention him in my LinkedIn book.    This article is culled from Sean’s experience and is a pretty detailed look at seven common LinkedIn mistakes.

13 LinkedIn Mistakes to Avoid by Suzanne Vara [?].  Another good compilation of LinkedIn mistakes.

Boost Your LinkedIn Profile by Kendra Reddy [?].  Good overall advice.

(In a similar vein, please check out my post on LinkedIn Profile Tips: The 10 Mistakes You Want to Avoid & Why [48]).

Personal Branding and LinkedIn

HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn by Dan Schawbel [1,860].  The personal branding guru writes a definitive blog post on Personal Branding and LinkedIn.  Enough said.  Please read!

(I wrote a post on Personal Branding Tips for the Unemployed on LinkedIn [2] that got a lot of comments that you might be interested in as well.)

Using LinkedIn to Find a Job

How to Use LinkedIn to Get the Job You Want by Chad Levitt [162].  I like the direct sales-oriented approach that Chad uses in this post.  Although it worked for Chad 5 out of 5 times, it may not work for you…but it’s an approach that’s definitely worth trying.

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn To Find a Job by Guy Kawasaki [149].  Come on, you know that Guy Kawasaki is going to show up on every top whatever social media-related list of 2009.  Guy is everywhere.  Guys is smart.  Guy is Guy  Read and learn!

A Top 10. The Best Job Search Groups on LinkedIn by Tim Tyrell-Smith [?].  I could not have a top 25 list on LinkedIn and job search without including a contribution from my good friend and premier blogger on job search and career management Tim Tyrell-Smith and mention of his Spin Strategy blog.

Competitive Intelligence Research with LinkedIn – Who’s Hiring? by Ian Smith [?].  A good look at the resource that LinkedIn Jobs is and how to use it as part of your job seeking research on companies that may be hiring.

Best LinkedIn Groups for Jobseekers by Dan Keller [?].  A good overview of suggested LinkedIn Groups for job seekers to complement Tim’s list above.

(Also be sure to check out my two-part blog post on using LinkedIn for Executive Job Search Part 1 [22] & Part 2 [18] as well as my post on Social Networking Tips for the Unemployed – Leverage LinkedIn & Connect [61]).

LinkedIn for Business

33 Ways to Use LinkedIn For Business by Meryl Evans [591].  A great and concise list of how businesses could be utilizing LinkedIn.

Top 20 LinkedIn Groups All Entrepreneurs MUST Join by Chris Perry [165].  A great post from the Young Entrepreneur Guru and good friend Bradley Will‘s blog.  While you’re there, be sure to check out the post I wrote on Brad’s website titled Young Entrepreneurs: 5 Reasons Why You CAN & SHOULD Leverage Linked [9].

How to Use LinkedIn to Spam Business People by Rich Brooks [11].  This is an excellent piece on how LinkedIn could be used, but often and unfortunately exploited the wrong way, in business.  Read and ensure that you are not spamming us as well.  Thank you.

5 Tips for Creating, Promoting and Managing a LinkedIn Group by Ellie Mirman [?].  This excellent post comes straight from the blog of the Inbound Marketing experts Hubspot.  Highly recommended.

(As an extra, please check out my post on 7 Ways Sales & Business Development Professionals Can Maximize Their LinkedIn Presence [24])

LinkedIn Related Blog Post Compilations

LinkedIn SuperGuide – Tutorials, Tips and Tools by Robin Broitman [267].  A good compilation of sites that was released in May of 2009.  Most of the articles on my Top25 List were published afterwards, so if there is additional specific information you are looking for,  please check out this list.

LinkedIn Guide for Knowledge Workers by Tony Karrer [?].  While this compilation was made for knowledge workers, it is an excellent resource as to what other information about LinkedIn exists.  This compilation was written in July of 2009, so once again it serves as a good complement in introducing older articles that may not appear in this article.

Do you agree with my picks above?  Did I miss any?  I am open to all suggestions so please feel free to comment!