I kinda use it as my resume. I still send my resume to companies, but having it 'out there' makes everyone being able to look it up and come up with opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten if I wasn't visible.
Other than that I don't really see a lot of value in its networking capabilities. I usually approach people through email anyway.
Edit: just wanted to elaborate a bit more: I can often see that potential clients have looked me up on LinkedIn. I wouldn't normally send them my resume so they would just have to 'trust me'. But because they can freely lookup my background info and see that people endorsed me for things, it gives me some credibility.
Other than that I don't really see a lot of value in its networking capabilities. I usually approach people through email anyway.
Edit: just wanted to elaborate a bit more: I can often see that potential clients have looked me up on LinkedIn. I wouldn't normally send them my resume so they would just have to 'trust me'. But because they can freely lookup my background info and see that people endorsed me for things, it gives me some credibility.