Linkedin to a Professional World
The phrase “The medium is the message” first coined by Marshall McLuhan has brought on a huge controversy in what it truly means. Personally, I believe that by saying this he meant that how we say something holds more value than what we say. We can use this phrase to explain many types of new media. One that I would like to focus on is a social network called LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional network. Within this network you can stay in touch with colleagues and friends, explore career opportunities, find experts and ideas, and establish your professional profile. It sounds a little familiar doesn’t it? Don’t we have websites like Facebook and Myspace that can do the same things? This is where the saying “the medium is the message” comes in. Sure, like I said, you can do all of those things on Myspace or Facebook, but it’s the website itself that makes others view you as a professional, business-oriented person. You can write exactly the same things you do on Linkedin as you do on Facebook, yet you’re still able to be viewed as an a professional. What makes Linkedin more professional than Facebook or Tumblr though is the way you’re able to use it.
Have you ever “Googled” yourself? Chances are, yes. In most cases you never know what may come up. However, if you have a Linkedin account your profile will automatically rise to the top of your search results. This is return, lets you control the first impression people see of you. Not only can you kind of cheat the system to make sure people are getting a good impression, you can also stay in touch with colleagues and friends. Do you ever wonder what happened to your old college buddy or that one small town business you used to work for? With Linkedin being the most popular social network for, you’ll be able to find everyone you used to know. Sure, you can once again find most of that stuff on Facebook and Myspace, but with this website you can also find out their business information, they’re latest projects, and contact info on a more professional level. Search engines can lead you to a million different opportunities, but Linkedin narrows down that list by showing opportunities that apply most to you. It connects you to jobs, sales leads, and ideal business partners. They get this information by looking at who you’re connected with and things you have asked in the past on their Answers and Groups Forums. Answers and Groups Forums lets you search and ask specific questions that apply to business. It lets you interact with trusted experts and helps you find information on network names, companies and locations.
This website allows you too connect with people like never before. It has a specific job that helps you with your job. When potential employers see that you have a Linkedin profile they’ll think that you’re a trusted, business oriented person that is trying to connect themselves with the business world. Plus, this is the first profile they will see when doing a search on you. You’re not only able to connect with former colleagues and friends, but also with people that share the same belief, values, and interest that you do. A website like this can do wonders for your career whether you’re still a student trying to build a good reputation or working and maintaining a good reputation.
I think that linkedin was a great choice. I know that there have been people inviting me to this new media, and because of that it now knows what circles I was involved in. Now it trys to set me up with communication to my ex best friend because it does not know that years ago we stopped being friends. Just an example and an idea for you. Awesome essay!
ReplyDeleteI will definitely take that into consideration and try to work it into my paper! It's a great idea! Thank you!
DeleteIt was impressive how you connected what the sight signifies and how, because of the name of this sight, makes people look at what the person posts differently. The way you started with using Facebook and MySpace then chancing to Facebook and Tumblr did not connect as strongly as if you would have continued using the same two beginning examples, so I would suggest changing your paper to using the same two examples throughout. The effect you explain about the use of websites, in this case LinkedIn, was strong and did a good job at explaining the positive values of this website. Overall, this was a strong rough draft and was very interesting to learn what your idea was about the name of websites, although you could write similar things on each, and people giving a different answer depending on the sight.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I didn't even realize I put tumblr! I will definitely change that and focus more on Facebook and Myspace.
DeleteIt amazes me how a person can share the same opinions, and yet be viewed differently according to what site they post their beliefs. The fact that Linkedin posts are regarded more credible than Facebook posts shows that our culture values success over personal relationships. However, it is vital that a person realizes these posts are opinions and believes, and not proven facts. I have not heard of Linkedin, but after reading your essay I realize it would be important to know to regard posts on Linkedin as you would posts on Facebook. The fact that this is a social networking site immediately lets me know that this medium influences the message because people do, in fact, post opinionated information on this site which is mostly unfiltered. Also, as you mentioned, it is a site that focuses on business. Therefore, the majority of comments and posts on this site will focus more on business ideas, etc.
ReplyDeleteThats a really great point that I didn't think of! Thanks for the feedback!
DeleteThe analysis seemed more like a pitch for the service than an actual dissection of it or reference to the elements of public consciousness and public culture that it represents. i think this topic is quite interesting, however, as I'm not a user of Linkedin and am not intimately familiar with it. I'd like to read the final draft of this, although I doubt I'll get the chance.
ReplyDeleteI am not a user of LinkdIn either. Your rough draft explains what it is and what its purpose is, but, like it states above, there is not a lot of personal opinion included! Something that may be interesting to explore is how ideas about professionalism in general are changed through services like LinkedIn. Obviously, this cite was made strictly for professionals, but is there a code of conduct, either explicit or not, on this cite that's different from others. Yes, its different from Facebook, but why/how?
ReplyDelete