I'm delighted to have be been introduced to St Evelin's cpd23 blog and am moved to defend LinkedIn. As a former HR person in libraries (stop booing!) and someone who currently teaches introduction to social networks classes in public libraries I have a few things to say.
Privacy on LinkedIn: the nature of privacy concerns seems to be age-linked. While I have a hard time sharing the minutia of my life and personal opinions on social networks, I am more than happy to have people know where I've worked and what type of work I've done. LinkedIn is relaxing precisely because the only information shared there is CV related - no one is asking what my relationship status is, expecting to see photos of me having fun or wanting to hear what entertainment I'm enjoying or not at the current moment. Dry as dust it may be, but LinkedIn is where you can learn about me and my areas of expertise.
Clubbiness: Yes! LinkedIn provides the access to people that a club membership might. But you don't have to go anywhere, learn secret handshakes, make small talk with boring people or any of the rest of it. And everyone is clear what the agenda is, so no need for social smokescreens when what you really want is Access to Information. Perfect for librarians who don't drink gin.
Usefulness: The value of LinkedIn is not in who you're connected with, but in their connections...your network. Imagine you're interested in duplicating an initiative at The New York Public Library. You search your LinkedIn network for New York Public Library and discover that a second level connection of yours (friend of a friend) works there. You can send her a LinkedIn message saying you're interested in learning about a particular initiative and that you've worked with Estelle (your connection in common). This is completely valid, the LinkedIn member will in no way be offended by your message and will likely introduce you to the correct person to talk to at New York Public Library.
Some recently told me "LinkedIn didn't get me a job" Well, LinkedIn is not an employment service - it doesn't use you, you use it. Most potential employers will check to see if you have a LinkedIn profile, so if you are looking for a job take the time to set up an outline CV on LinkedIn and populate it with a few connections. Unless you're in marketing/PR you won't be expected to have a million connections, and the best ones are those based on real life working relationships. And remember to look up your potential employer and interviewers before heading into an interview...the background information you gain could be valuable!
Changes at LinkedIn: Like Facebook (which once upon a time only accepted members with university email addresses) LinkedIn has diversified over the years. As LinkedIn's popularity has grown, members have started connecting with people that they've never met, rather than following the guidelines of only connecting with people with whom you have worked in the past. This dilutes the value of a LinkedIn introduction, but LinkedIn has tried to offset this by adding newer features like groups and discussions. Thoughts?
2 comments:
Thanks for these interesting and compelling points in LinkedIn's defence. I think part of my lack of enthusiasm stems from the sentiment behind your statement "LinkedIn is relaxing precisely because the only information shared there is CV related". I value the benefits that past experience can bring, but I also feel that my work experience says only a small amount about myself and my abilities. Perhaps I need to be more creative with my CV!
Your section on usefulness does indeed make LinkedIn sound potentially rather useful, though I wonder if the same connections could not be made via Twitter or even by more conventional means. Maybe at some point when I find myself a little more grounded in my career, LinkedIn will be something I should indeed be thinking about.
Thanks for bringing these thoughts to my attention; I'll have to go back to my blog and add a link, I think.
Really useful post, especially the bit about second level connections. Haven't really got to grips with LinkedIn yet, but your comments have encouraged me to persevere.
Post a Comment