I needed to locate a person. I didn’t know exactly who. But I knew what company, and in what area.

I was asking my friend Frank (of Domain Name News) if he knew anybody in that organization, and he pointed out something very obvious - did I search LinkedIn.

It was such a moment of ‘duh’ that the simplicity of obviousness of it missed me. So I search for the company name, and lo and behold, the #2 result is the exact person I’m looking for. The estimated size of the company: 5,001 - 10,000. Even more brilliant? We are three levels separate (a contact of mine knows a contact who knows this person).

So now instead of having a clue about who I need to talk to, I have a specific name. And a location. Now I can call the correct office and get the person I want. Fantastic!

I’ve always been very “ugh” about the entire social network thing, as friendships (to me) are something on a very personal level. To that end I keep two separate Facebook accounts. But this utilization of LinkedIn and the value of my inherent contacts has really opened my eyes.

Anyway, this ranks as one of those “so obvious you might miss it” points. I asked about a dozen people (almost all on LinkedIn), and Frank as the only one to nail it.