Does anyone still use LinkedIn in the USA? Is it a useful service for networking, even if you’re a freelance contractor?

A bit about myself:

I’m 36, British, moved to the USA in 2019. I’m an A/V technician, been self employed in the industry for over 15 years. Event industry went tits-up with COVID and I’ve been unemployed since March 2019. Trying to get back into the workforce now, or perhaps pivot to a different, more stable career path.....

I’ve built a new website to advertise myself but I’m also wondering whether I should be considering joining LinkedIn? I’ve always thought it was for networking for ‘business’ type people, whereas my industry has always been a bit more bases on word-of-mouth/technical skills, and the only other thing I know about it is that, anecdotally, once you sign up they keep badgering you with mailing list emails and notifications for everything under the sun. A few people here in the USA have suggested I join, though, so that my services can be easily found, so I just wondered what people here think about LinkedIn?

Is it worth joining, even if you’re only planning to list your abilities/services and then sit back and wait to be ‘headhunted’?! I guess it might be different for industries like mine where you’re not so much looking for a long-term job with a single company but rather multiple per-event contracts with various companies....?

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