Catherine Rose

Final Paper: Social Media- Linkedin

CC 304
Professor Gallant
4/7/2011

Linkedin: Relationships Matter

I choose to provide an overview and analysis of the professional networking site,

Linkedin because, although I have a Linkedin account, there is still so much more that can be
learned about the site as well as its use. I also chose to review Linkedin because, although it has
been around for a few years, I am not as familiar with it, nor am I addicted to it in the way in
which I am addicted to facebook, twitter and youtube. This paper will provide a brief history of
Linkedin, as well as it was adopted as a site within the United States and Internationally, along
with its growth and development. I will look at how Linkedin utilizes its uses and gratifications,
narrowcasting, and contextual advertising in order to create a central online community in which
people with a common goal can meet and interact, as well as how online communication is
facilitated, maintained, and encouraged in this common space.
Linkedin is a privately owned company, headquartered in Mountain View, California,
and like many other social networking sites, was started in the living room of Co-founder, Reid
Hoffman in 2002. The site was initially started because Hoffman was searching for a way to
change the lives of millions of people. The site, which was officially launched on May 5, 2003
did not always have as many members as it does today. In fact, it’s start was rather slow and
shaky. The notion for Linkedin began back in 1997 when Hoffman and his friend Konstantin
Guericke began discussing the propsects of an online-community market and how a service for
professionals could be built (cnnmoney.com). Hoffman and Guericke, along with three other
engineers started the service with about 350 of their own contacts. As a result of many of these
early contacts having experience working for google, yahoo, and pay pal, many of the early
Linkedin members were technical entrepreneurs. Hoffman thought and had hoped that within a
year, Linkedin would be were it is now, surpassing its competitors Viadeo (founded in 2004) and
Xing (founded in 2003) to reach over 90 million users. However, “getting professionals to try
and then trust a new service with their business contacts is not like getting teenagers to build a
MySpace page. It’s much harder to sell. The reason most people join social networks is to hook
up with friends who are already there and to make new ones by ralling around a favorite band,
school, or TV show. By the time you’ve hit your 30’s though, you don’t need a lot of new
friends. What you need are contacts, old and new who can help your career” (cnnmoney.com).
As a result, Hoffman and Guericke tried to make Linkedin as easy and unobtrusive as
possible. The mechanism at Linkedin is plain and simple: anyone can join, but to make someone
else a part of your network, you have to invite them and they have to accept” (cnnmoney.com).
Linkedin still faced a dilema, in spite of this idea. For Linkedin to be useful, it had to have
people. For it to have people, it had to be useful. Linkedin did not provide a massively useful
service for most people for the first 2.5 years. However, slowly, Linkedin began to surpass its
competitors.
Linkedin began to grow, and be adopted into many different cultures and other parts of
the world. A month after its launch, Linkedin had 4,500 members. A year after it’s launch,
Linkedin had 5,600 members, that goes to show how slowly Linkedin took off of the ground. By
2005, Linkedin had 4.4 million members, and at this point, the average Linkedin user with 20
contacts had access to about 40,000 other members (cnnmoney.com). And today, there are over
90 million members. Imagine how many people one can be connected through 20 users now. I,
for instance, have only 54 connections so far. These 54 connections link me to 407, 341
professionals (Linkedin.com). There are currently 20 million users in Eurpoe as of December
2010. There are 1 million Linkedin users in Australia and Brazil, 9 million in India, and 3
million in Canada. That goes to show how diverse and widespread of a networking site Linkedin
has become.
According to the article, Flow and enjoyment by John Sherry, “an individuals decision to
use a particular medium is largely, though not completely, a function of the individuals
expectation of potential enjoyment resulting from use of that medium” (329). For example, in
creating a portfolio or slideshow on Linkedin. An advertising and marketing communication
major might use the portfolio section of the site. They might use photographs and texts and
typography to create an engaging site that reflects their medium combined with their creativity to
design something that could be seen by potential employers. Other sites, however such as
Twitter and facebook serve completely different purposes when it comes to uses and
gratifications, and issue a whole other type of enjoyment. They also do not provide the ability to
design a whole portfolio for display.
In a study based off of interviews with children, Schramm, Lyle, and Parker identified
three basic uses and gratifications of television: entertainment, information, and social utility
(Sherry, 329). These same uses and gratifications can be applied to social media sites. In the
instance of Linkedin, the primary use is for information. Linkedin provides information
pertaining to various companies, as well as professional assocations. Information is also
provided about each person within that network. Users can also obtain information about up and
coming business deals or career opportunities. Users can also get information about new
ventures and get back in touch with former colleagues. For example, American cancer Society.
American Cancer Society provides an overview about their company and their mission. They
also provide information to network with their employees. There is also a list of articles that
mentioned the American Cancer Society in the news. A user can also learn that the organization
is quite large, is headquartered in Atlanta, and is a non-profit. Users can also be redirected to the
American Cancer Society’s web page, and receive job information.
Narrowcasting also plays an important role on Linkedin. Narrowcasting can increase
readership and customer base by a series of means. The most important narrowcasting channels
that are seen through Linkedin are 1)email newsletters 2) premium content, and 3) member-only
networks. For example, when looking at Email newsletters, one of the groups that I am a
member of is Network of PR professionals. This group emails newsletters once a week and
notifies users of active discussions. Users can comment, flag, or like the discussion. Job
discussions are also highlighted.
Also important through narrowcasting is displaying Premium content, which Linkedin
does explicitly. Linkedin provides users with the opportunity to upgrade their account to a
premium account. By holding a premium account, users have access to information that only
people with an upgraded Linkedin account can have access to. Such examples include: users can
contact anyone directly with InMail, view more profiles when they search, view expanded
profiles on everyone, get introduced to the companies that you’re targeting, and get priority
customer service.
Another part of narrowcasting that is reflected through Linkedin is that it contains
member only networks. These networks generally require invites or requests to join. For
example, I am a member of the Emmanuel College Office of internships and career development
group. This is a group I joined while still at Emmanuel, and I had to request enrollment in that
group. If you click on the groups tab on Linkedin, it will show all the groups that you are a
member of. By scrolling over the groups that have a grey lock on their left, it says: “they are
member only groups.” Only members have access to the information in these groups. In the case
of the Emmanuel group, only I have access to certain internships and job opportunities that
might be related to Emmanuel and Emmanuel College alumni.
Lastly, Contextual Advertising is a big part of Linkedin. Based on job inquiries by the
user, on the left hand side of the site, a user can view jobs that Linkedin suggests and
recommends that they may like. For instance, as a communication studies major, based on my
networks, groups and associations, and jobs that I have searched, Linkedin thinks that I might
like jobs such as Public Relations Manager, PR, Consumer, Social Media and Communications
Intern, and Public Relations and Account Supervisor.
In conclusion, the interaction on Linkedin is based around the sending of messages and
group discussions. Sending messages serves to learn about new job opportunities on the
grapevine. Engaging in group discussions is a way of sharing ideas. Trust is facilitated because
the user has to know someone before they can connect with them or connect with anyone that is
in their network. Linkedin creates a whole new form and space for communication by making
networking possible through its online interactions. It differs from other social networking sites
because it focuses more on building relationships and creating networks.

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Sherry, John. "Flow and enjoyment." Communication Theory 14.4 (2004): 328-347. Print.