LinkedIn has never been the most sexy service out there. But lately, they have done some improvements that I appreciate.

They just introduced InMaps (found via BVLG), a product that let’s you visualize your network. The result is a color-coded map that represents the different groups in your network. Colors are given to people who have (or had) the same employer, people working in the same industry etc. This is my map (click to enlarge):

On my map, I found 3 groups related to a former employer, 2 groups who are related to a specific industry and 3 groups who where difficult to label. A lot of my network consists of people I met on unconferences, blogdinners or via social media networks. The only thing they have in common is a blog and/or a Twitter-account.

Something interesting are the bigger names on your map. They represent people who are the most connected within that specific cluster or group. Most probably they are they are the ‘influentials’ within that group.

One more thing. I can’t really see who is closest to me on the map, but one of them is my better half. Funny.