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Analysis of the Effectiveness of Linked In as Tool for Group Organization and

Communication

Getting Started

What kinds of organizations might find a website like this useful?

➲ Business Consultants➲ Business Service Providers➲ Sales & Marketing Professionals➲ Recruitment Professional➲ Outplacement Firms➲ Travel Service Providers➲ Printing/Publication Service Providers➲ Any organization organizing “virtual teams” to accomplish tasks.

What is a virtual team? What are the benefits.

➲ Virtual team – is a group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communications technology. (Wikipedia)

➲ Small businesses, volunteer organizations organization and other groups with small amounts of start up capital can utilize a free virtual workspace.

➲ Virtual teams allow members to contribute at their convenience and from various locations which can cut back on time lost to travel which increases productivity.

What are the key features of this website that differentiate it from other similar sites?

➲ Average user is well-educated professional business person.

Often “Decision Makers”

➲ LinkedIn is geared toward professional use.

➲ Document Sharing Applications

➲ Personalization Blog and “Twitter” feeds are pulled and posted to profile which allows user to showcase their professional knowledge.

User ProfileThe LinkedIn Professional At A Glance

Average Age 41

Household Income $109,703

Male 64%

Comp Index Rank

HHI $100K+ 53.5% 210 1

Own Smartphone/PDA 34% 430 1

College Grad/Post Grad 80.1% 156 2

Business Decision Maker 49% 185 13

EVP/SVP/VP 6.5% 317 4

Source: @plan Summer 2008

http://www.slideshare.net/erickschonfeld/linkedin-demographic-data-jun08-presentation

LinkedIn is geared towards business professionals and organizations.

LinkedIn has a more “professional look and feel” which is appreciated by the more professional, mature audience. (Anderson)

The LinkedIn Blog advises business and professionalusers on getting the most out of their account. (Nicole)

Ten Ways for Small Businesses to Use LinkedInSmall Biz Nation: Helping small businesses help each otherLinkedIn for BlackBerry: Anytime, Anywhere Now Available: Your Professional Network within Microsoft Outlook

LinkedIn is a direct path to many of the “decision makers” in todays business world.

Business Decision Makers

Job Titles:- C-Level Executives 7.8%- EVP/SVP 6.5%- Senior Management: 16%- Middle Management: 18%

50% Are Business Decision Makers In Their Companies- Computer Software DM/ Influencer: 32%- Computer Hardware DM/ Influencer: 22%- Business Consulting Services: 18%- IT Consulting DM/ Influencer: 17%- Office Supplies DM/ Influencer: 17%- Business Equipment DM/ Influencer: 20%- Printing DM/ Influencer: 12%- Travel Services DM/ Influencer: 12%

Purchased in The Last Year For Their Business:- Computer Hardware 30%- Software 22%

Source: @plan Summer 2008http://www.slideshare.net/erickschonfeld/linkedin-demographic-data-jun08-presentation

➲ LinkedIn has fewer members than My Space or Facebook but that membership is expanding.

April 2009: Linked in was mentioned in a list of theTop Ten Social Networking and Blog Sites (Nielson)

October 2009: LinkedIn reports membership of “50

million professionals” (Weiner).

➲ Website lacks a “real-time” chat or video conferencing application.

Organizational / group related drawbacks

How could your group use LinkedIn?

➲ Scenario One: Group Communication

➲ Scenario Two: Event Planning

➲ Scenario Three: Recruiting and Outsourcing

Group Communication Features

➲ Group members may utilize discussion walls to discuss topics posted by members.

Subgroups option for specific purposes.

➲ Document sharing applications allow collaboration and distribution of documents.

➲ Groups increase marketing and advertising potential of LinkedIn. (Ostrow)

Discussion groups facilitate group interaction and communication.

Documents are visible on profile and easily downloaded or viewed.

Group members can be invited to collaborate as document editors.

Event Planning

➲ Member can create events and invite contacts to attend.

Invitees can RSVP for events via their profile page.

Contacts can see each other's events which increases event visibility.

➲ Event planners can keep track of events and are able to see the number of expected attendees. (Turner)

Upcoming events organized and accessible to invitees. Event details are easily updated.

Using LinkedIn as a Recruiting and Outsourcing Resource:

➲ Allows a member to search for job candidates and service providers (ex. printing service) among their contacts and companies with public profiles.

➲ 150,000 companies have a company profile on LinkedIn, the “public profile” for companies.

(Kawasaki)

Contacts can be sorted according to industry, company, locations, and recent activity.

Establishing Roles and Tasks

➲ Project Plan can easily be discussed and shared with group members.

➲ Group leaders can message all members of group at once. (Kawasaki)

➲ Individual discussion subgroups can be created for each task.

➲ Team leaders can assign tasks based on expertise or previous experience of members.

Social Satisfaction

➲ Members are able to send private messages to personal contacts thus maintaining or re-building personal relationships. (Kawasaki)

➲ Other social networking venues such as blogs and Twitter can be imported to member profiles to add personalized content.

➲ Members can search for groups pertaining to their personal interests.

Task Satisfaction

➲ Virtual team members are often more productive and content because they can access workspace from various locations at their convenience. (Jury)

➲ “Virtual workspaces (an integrated set of tools that offer a variety of communication support capabilities including a well-organized and searchable common team repository and group discussion forums) provide historical referents, enhance situational awareness, and facilitate multi-channel interactions.” (Majchrzak)

Using LinkedIn to Mitigate Conflict

➲ Accountability: Members contributions are visible to entire group.

➲ Disputes over Ownership of Intellectual Properties: Documents and “concepts” easily linked back to original source. (Majchrzak)

➲ Asynchronous discussion board may help to eliminate “information overload” and lost e-mails.(Jury)

Using LinkedIn in a Business Context

➲ Linked in allows you to post specifics about yourpast job experience and educational background.

➲ Only members can post content on their profile.

➲ LinkedIn allows you access to many groupcreated to provide members with valuablebusiness advice.

Provides users instant access to your educational and experiential background.

LinkedIn protects your public image.

➲ No danger of being “tagged” in that unfortunate “glamour shot” from 1995.

➲ Business contacts aren't privy to personal information which others might post on your Facebook or My Space profiles such as: “Wow! Your boss really is a jerk.”

LinkedIn offers networking opportunities with other entrepeneurs.

On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest, what rating would you give the website and why?

➲ While quite useful for group organization, LinkedIn would benefit by a “real-time” communication device.

Complicated tasks may require a platform by which members can utilize “ synchronous communication media, such as videoconferencing or groupware, in order to develop greater role clarity”. (Jury)

Citations

Kawasaki, Greg. "Ten Ways for Small Businesses to Use LinkedIn." LinkedIn Blog. Blog, 12 Apr 2010. Web. 14 Apr 2010. http://blog.linkedin.com/2010/04/12/linkedin-small-business- tips/>.

Nielson Company, . "Time Spent on Facebook up 700 Percent, but MySpace.com Still Tops for Video, According to Nielsen." Nielson. Nielson Company, 2 June 2009. Web. 14 Apr 2010.

<http://enus.nielsen.com/main/news/news_releases/2009/june/time_on_facebook

Lawrence, Helen. "Linked In." Social Media Statistics. 28 Nov 2008. Web. 10 Apr 2010. <http://socialmediastatistics.wikidot.com/linkedin>.

Anderson, Analytics. "Not All Social Network Users Alike – Four Types of LinkedIn Users – Which Type are you?." Anderson Analytics News. Anderson Analytics, 5 Nov 2008. Web. 12 Apr 2010.

Nicole , Kristen. "http://mashable.com/2007/04/25/linkedin-blog/." Mashable: The Social Media Guide. 25 Apr 2007. Web. 14 Apr 2010. <http://mashable.com/2007/04/25/linkedin-blog/>

Jury, Al. " Jan 17 Improving role clarity and reducing information overload in virtual teams." Virtual Teams Blog. 13 Jan 2010. Web. 14 Apr 2010. <http://virtualteamsblog.com/2010/improving- role-clarity-and-reducing-information-overload-in-virtual-teams/>.

Majchrzak, Ann. "Virtual Workspace Technology Use and Knowledge-Sharing Effectiveness in." Stern School

New York University, 9 Sept 2004. Web. 13 Apr 2010.

Citations Cont.

Turner , Debbie. "http://debbieturner.com/linkedin-better-event-planning-with-linkedin/." Debbie Turner. Com. 16 Dec 2009. Web. 14 Apr 2010. <http://debbieturner.com/linkedin-better-event-planning-with-linkedin/>.

Weiner, Jeff. "LinkedIn: 50 million professionals worldwide." LinkedIn Blog. 14 Oct 2009. Web. 14 Apr 2010

Schonfield, Erick. "LinkedIn Demographic Data Jun08." Slideshare. LinkedIn, June 2008. Web. 14 Apr 2010. <http://www.slideshare.net/erickschonfeld/linkedin-demographic-data-jun08- presentation>.

Ostrow, Adam. "LinkedIn Groups Add Marketing Power." Mashable: The Social Media Guide. 15

Apr 2010. Web. 12 Apr 2010.

"Virtual Team." Wikipedia, 9 Mar 2010. Web. 14 Apr 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_team>.