In class, on Wednesday, we discussed connections and how networks work. We looked at how nodes and connections look when people are analyzing them and where to find the person who has the most power or influence in a network. A lot of our discussion talked about LinkedIn, too. This made me think of my own LinkedIn and how many connections I have. I have a lot of connections on LinkedIn with many different people of different industries, which when looking at a network map, I would look pretty powerful, but I don’t consider myself to be. This is because I am not very good at keeping in actual contact with my LinkedIn connections. It is rare if I actually talk to them, as many of them are from high school, old jobs , or are people I have just met along the way.
I am wondering if a person with fewer connections, but stronger ones, would have a better chance at getting a job. I am not sure that this would be true though, because to me social media is kind of like a free-for-all where one can openly request people and ask people and it is not necessary that your connections be strong if you can contact that person again and be polite. Because social media is, a lot of the times, informal, does that mean that professional social networks can be more informal as well? I think that they can be and that also, because of this, jobs are easier to get. Instead of having to call up an old friend to see if they might know about someone who could possibly have another friend who might have a friend who could have a job you’re interested in, then you having to formally meet that person, LinkedIn’s informality could help cut down that time by suggesting a 3rd tier connection (a connection of a connection of a connection) and you can contact that person directly and feel comfortable. Because of this informal nature of LinkedIn, I think all connection strengths are similar, and it is about the amount of connections you have that will help you.
Rethink Your LinkedIn Strategy: 6 Benefits Of Treating It More Like Twitter
I found this article that talks about using LinkedIn like Twitter. While I do not necessarily agree with all parts of it, such as reposting a lot of articles, I do agree with the power of having many connections. Some of the arguments for more connections here are more website traffic, more professional endorsements, and more profile views. Having more connections on LinkedIn will make your profile pop-up on others’ profiles and you already have an edge on other people with fewer connections. I agree with this because since I have a fair amount of connections, I receive a lot of profile views and know that I am suggested as a connection on others’ pages, whereas if I didn’t have as many connections, it’s possible that I wouldn’t receive as much attention and could be at a disadvantage when looking for a job. Do you agree that the pure amount of connections on LinkedIn is what helps people get jobs or does it have to do more with the quality of those connections? Also, do you agree with the benefits of having more connections or do you think they are valid?
I think employment is a good topic to relate to when discussing about the power of social networking and also about the degree of influence a particular individual or organisation have. In my opinion, the pure amount of connections on LinkedIn is not enough for people to get employed by companies. As the famous saying highlights, quality is always better than quantity. The quality of those connections provides more details about the person and show the company more about the inner profile of the person. What I mean by this is that an individual who has little connections but those connections are all held with big international corporations and influential businessmen would have higher chance of being hired than a person who have thousands of connections on LinkedIn with small local businesses and simple friends who are not “popular” in the society. Furthermore, the degree in which the individual interacts with the companies and people they are connected with on LinkedIn, must be evaluated as well. And respectively, whether the companies that a person is connected to are powerful will affect the quality as well. Moreover, as we have discussed in class, there are many metrics in which we can use to assess a particular network in order to derive more information from it. However, the methodology may not be objective at all times and there are many problems with it.
With so many different factors to be taken into account when evaluating a social network of a person, this alerts a question on whether companies should actually involve a person’s social networking profile as one of the deciding components in the recruiting process. There are many flaws within measuring the power a person has on their social network and there are still many important factors that affects whether a person should be hired, like their relevant work experiences, education level and personality. Therefore, do you think that it is necessary for companies to take into account the social network of a person when recruiting? If yes, would LinkedIn be the best source of this information? Are there any alternatives?
The attached links show that LinkedIn may not be as credible and useful for professional use because the information could be manipulated and that there are some alternatives to LinkedIn such as AngelList.
http://hawkespeers.com/how-credible-are-linkedin-profiles/
http://www.business2community.com/linkedin/10-alternatives-to-linkedin-for-professional-networking-0555806
Have you heard of these social networking sites? Do you think they could be more reliable and credible than LinkedIn or would it be the same?
Although the quality of each connection is more important than the quantity, I still agree that it is beneficial to have more connections because it means that you can be exposed to more information and there is wider opportunity to obtain more information about the community and to meet more different people that could be useful to your career someday.