The author, Rik Van Bruggen, explores the possibilities of using Neo4j as a graph database to visualize and interact with LinkedIn's professional network. He successfully extracts data from LinkedIn's InMaps visualization tool using Python scripts, which can be imported into Neo4j for further analysis and querying. The process involves accessing the LinkedIn API, importing the extracted data into Neo4j, and then querying the graph database to create an interactive visual representation of one's professional network.