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Linked on LinkedIn Essay

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“It’s about a people-driven economy, stupid” (Lister, et al, 2011, p. 279). Although crass, this comment sums up our current global electronic marketplace. Consumers are the key to success in the socialnomic world. Products, jobs, and corporations refer by word-of-mouth, or world-of-mouth, as the internet has become (Lister, et al, 2011). More and more employers and employees link together on LinkedIn, the second-largest social networking site in existence (Press, 2011). LinkedIn arguably represents the best business tool on the web for both recruiters and potential employees. LinkedIn launched on May 5, 2003 as the first of the major social networking sites, just in front of Facebook, which launched in February, 2004 ( ). By April …show more content…

In a landmark move in 2010, LinkedIn contracted with Twitter so that contacts from both sites could be shared. This year LinkedIn responded to consumer interest by creating shorter URLs in consumer links so that information may be more easily shared (Wilkerson, 2011). Even President Obama asked for feedback on LinkedIn (Tice, 2011). In fact, LinkedIn appeared in 31 articles in business journals, websites, and blogs in September 2011 (Press, 2011). Happily, LinkedIn keeps a newsfeed of its most recent citing in business journals on its website so readers see what great claims others make about the LinkedIn platform. Remember that quote about it being a consumer-driven economy?
Businesses need to shift their focus from print and television to the new social consumer-driven media (Qualman, 2011). As humans, we enjoy attention. “Ineffective companies spend time attempting to obfuscate or manipulate negative comments within social media. Good companies spend time addressing and resolving customer complaints” (Qualman, 2011, p. 47). LinkedIn has certainly done its job well by building onto its existing platform to make way for new gadgets to fit the consumer’s interests.
LinkedIn grew out of Long Tail economics applied to job seekers. Long Tail economics, defined as, “Networked communications allow producers to connect with a multiplicity of smaller niche markets. As search

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