What it is: A membership service through which 11 million people list work experience, references, and job goals.

What's cool: A jobs area gives companies a huge base of connected businesspeople to recruit from. An answers service, which allows the posting of business questions, has a start-up and small-business category.

Drawbacks: Network spam -- people you don't know will ask to connect with you.

Price: The basic version is free. Premium plans range widely, from $60 to $2,000 a year (or $20 to $200 a month).

www.linkedin.com