OMG, I Cannot Believe the Industry is Not That Well Connected

I recently joined LinkedIn.com to increase my visibility with other businesses. In going through my over 600 business cards (people I've worked with in either Senior Expo from '02 to '08, or people I network with), I cannot believe what I found.

I typed in both the company name and the individual name. Out of almost 200 people, most of whom go to several senior networking meetings per month, less than 7% have a profile on Linked In. That's just 14 people. And these are the community relations reps and the owners, folks.

Many might be on Facebook or Myspace, but those are primarily for college kids, not business people.

For an industry that prides itself on referrals, there's definitely a problem.