LinkedIn...to what?

For this final post in my series on social media, I'd like to mention LinkedIn. Much about the site is either creepy or bizarre. For example, alleged spamming from email information has led to a class action complaint. The skill recommendations make lawyers feel a bit uneasy.  Job updates that are essentially resume cleaning lead to awkward congratulations/questions about non-existent job changes. In short, I've always believed that LinkedIn is useless, especially to law professors who don't get hired through that network. However, I have recently upgraded my assessment to partially useless.

There's no doubt that LinkedIn continues to grow. It must be doing something for somebody, as people actually pay to use some of its features, unlike Facebook and Twitter. And my LinkedIn network is growing much faster than my Facebook network, mostly due to incoming invitations (whether direct or auto-generated). The primary benefit, it seems to me, is the ability to send a message to someone with an unknown email address, and maybe with the imprimatur of a connection (though I think that second part is a bit overrated).

So, why the slight upgrade? Two reasons.

1. For those inclined, there is some marketing/knowledge sharing value in LinkedIn. It has a feed of sorts that some people look at. I now share my Twitter/Facebook posts to LinkedIn as well, and get about 10% of the response despite similar network sizes. Those who use the site frequently can become "influencers" and write longer blog length features that run on the front page. That's real exposure, not just for the professor, but for the ideas the professor wants to share.

2. Though LinkedIn is useless for professor hiring, I've been persuaded that it can be helpful for students seeking jobs. I have several connections to alumni, friends, and others in practice and industry, and those folks understand that part of being on LinkedIn is getting requests to connect from some of my other connections, who happen to be students. Even if it leads only to informational interviews, there is value. But I think there's more - I've heard from multiple students that they found work or internships via LinkedIn - through postings, connections, or just cold calling. To the extent that my participation can help them find jobs from one of my connections, then I'm all in.

Comments

[Ralph Clifford]

Another way that it "works" for law professors: I have been selected to recommend funding or publication on several legal research projects. The organizations that asked me to do so found me through LinkedIn.

[Hdifranco]

Thank you for your acknowledgement that LinkedIn can be helpful for students seeking employment. As a career services officer, we coach students on proactive use of social media, LinkedIn in particular, to help them develop their professional brand and build their professional network. Each year, I have several student secure either summer or post-graduate employment through connections they first made via LinkedIn. Having faculty reinforce the message of CSOs as related to LinkedIn can only be helpful as we stress to students the importance of leveraging every available resource in this competitive marketplace.

[[M][@][c][K]]

My favourite LinkedIn story is a trade secret matter. A client had been in abortive negotiations with BigCorp which claimed to want to license or adopt their technology - all covered by comprehensive non-disclosure and non-use agreements. The negotiations were a little off - absurd demands blocking the deal. Nonetheless, BigCorp did insist on quite a lot of technical due diligence.

A few months after the deal fell apart BigCorp announced at a trade-fair its competing product, with identical specs to the clients. Cue the legal row - BigCorp's MegaFirm counsel denied everything, saying claims of misuse were "outrageous and defamatory." However, the position fell apart when the names on the business cards gathered at the technical due diligence were run through LinkedIn, and it turned out that they included someone who described himself as head of the team to develop the competing products and various of his minions. Upon sending the LinkedIn pages utter silence from MegaFirm ensued and the competing product died.

[anonprof]

It's the easiest way to stay informed on the whereabouts of former students. That's about it's usefulness, it seems to me.

[Bridget Crawford]

I agree with Michael Risch that LinkedIn is helpful for networking by current and former students. To me, LinkedIn also functions a bit like an old-school Rolodex in the digital age -- I want to get in touch with someone, but I don't have their info already programmed into my phone. LinkedIn usually works.

[Kevin Jon Heller]

The loathing I feel for LinkedIn almost defies words. The amount of spam I get from them -- invitation to connect after invitation to connect -- is remarkable, and their customer service is nonexistent. Every time I try to complain, they tell me I cannot stop invites from arriving as long as I have an account. Fair enough -- but I haven't had an account for years...

[Orin Kerr]

Ask Dan Solove, who writes occasional blog posts for LinkedIn and presently has 890,110 followers. (Seriously, that's not a typo.)

[Michael Risch]

A nice outlier. I did say it could by used for marketing/sharing, and now I know where all his SSRN downloads come from!

Bridget - interesting. I usually use Google for that.

[Michael Lewyn]

Former students have used it to get in touch with me; I think they feel more comfortable using it than Facebook.