LINKEDIN USERS KEY TO BEING SUCCESFFUL

Prepared forShari Weiss

Prepared byZarah J. Vega

BUS 300 StudentSan Francisco State University

November 13, 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. IV

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

PURPOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

SIGNIFICANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

ORGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

FINDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

People Around the World Join LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3LinkedIn Users Activity vs. Activity on Other Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4LinkedIn Users Concerned of their Safety and Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

WORKS CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure1 Where are LinkedIn Users Located . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Activity of Users on Social Networking Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Quotes about Safety Concerns on LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of this report is to inform readers the importance of LinkedIn users having a complete profile. Through this social networking site people are able to connect with classmates, faculty, and family at a professional level. Joining this social networking platform allows you to create what most people call, your professional brand. A profile on LinkedIn is similar to a resume. LinkedIn and big companies search through these profiles and use what they see and read to make big decisions on whether to make a connection or give the user a chance of an opportunity or career. These profiles allow employers to be able to search for people who meet their standards and qualifications or conduct further research about a person before hiring them. LinkedIn is beneficial to its users by allowing them to find and pursue a career in their passion by browsing profiles, maintaining relationships, and building their own professional brand. Logging on frequently and keeping your profile up to date is extremely important. Profiles are rated on completeness of: Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, and All-Star. Both users and companies can benefit by complete profiles to see if the user is what they are looking for.

The conclusion is that LinkedIn users can benefit themselves by having a strong profile and constantly keeping it up to date with the information provided. This report is based on supplied data from the survey conducted during the course and further online research. Based on the survey, more than half of the participant’s answers were along the lines of not having a profile on LinkedIn or not logging on frequently and being an active user.

Analysis of the data revealed benefited in three areas:

People from all Around the World Join LinkedIn. LinkedIn has over 322 million people registered users and is currently used in over 200 countries and territories. It is available in 20 languages.

LinkedIn Users Activity vs. Users’ Activity on other Social Sites. 15% of users sign onto LinkedIn daily, the average daily time spend on site per user is 9.8 minutes, and 85% of users are using Facebook.

LinkedIn Users Concerned of their Safety Privacy. LinkedIn users are afraid that the personal information they provide on their profiles might fall into the wrong hands. LinkedIn has enabled blocking features and custom privacy settings on their site.

On the basis of these findings, it is recommended for all LinkedIn users to continue to have a strong presence on the site by completing and updating their profiles frequently. In addition, users who are afraid to provide personal information needed to have a complete profile on LinkedIn should customize the privacy setting to their own liking. Being able to utilize the website to its full ability will create endless opportunities and connections for many users.

INTRODUCTION

This report is designed to inform users about the importance of keeping a strong presence on LinkedIn. By having a strong presence, users are able to utilize the website to its full ability. Specifically, this report seeks to answer these questions:

Who is joining LinkedIn?

Why is keeping a strong presence on your LinkedIn profile important?

How are LinkedIn users concerned of their privacy and safety?

BACKGROUND

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service. The social networking site was founded in California on December 2002 and launched on May 2003. LinkedIn is the largest professional networking site available today. LinkedIn provides a way to connect with other professionals and helps you stay in contact with millions of users. This networking site is used for exchanges of knowledge and ideas. Also, this platform is used for users to find opportunities and groups of interest, as well as jobs in a particular field. This site is available in over 200 countries worldwide in 20 different languages.

The company was founded by Reid Hoffman including founding team members from PayPal and Socialnet.com. Hoffman was able to launch LinkedIn from out of his living room by inviting 350 of his contacts to join his network and create their own profiles. LinkedIn grew rapidly and had 4,500 members by the end of that month it began. Today, the 500 employee private company has some 50 million users. Reid Hoffman is 42 years old and has a reputation as a Silicon Valley heavyweight, investing in more than 60 start-ups. (Business Insider) A few of the start-ups Hoffman has invested in include Facebook and Friendster. According to Hoffman, he created LinkedIn because he saw a huge amount of social entertainment on the web. He thought about investing in a bunch of things that have a social site to it; the professional side he would have come to understand later. (Business Insider) During the time he invested in start-ups, he began his own start-up, LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a professional way to promote yourself online. This networking site is one of the first to show up in any search engine results when using it to find people. For example, search engines like Google will show LinkedIn profiles at the top when typing a person’s name. LinkedIn includes all of your basic information online: education, experiences, connections, and groups. In addition, users have the option to attach resumes and links to personal blog/website. LinkedIn provides users an easy way to build their personal brand. LinkedIn profiles are beneficiary: first, users are able to find and pursue a career in their passion by browsing profiles and connecting with professionals in a particular field. second, users are able to build and maintain professional relationships and turn those professional relationships into opportunities. Lastly, users have access to research staff at companies while preparing for interviews and other opportunities. These benefits rely on having a completed profile.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to inform readers on LinkedIn users and their profiles. This report is also designed to persuade people have a strong presence on the site and a strong profile. LinkedIn users are recommended to complete the ‘complete profile’ checklist provided on the LinkedIn website.

SIGNIFICANCE

With the world having information at our fingertips it is important to be on social networking sites. Many people use social media sites for entertainment purposes. There are also enterprising sites which for business purposes. Having accounts to these professional networking sites can gain a person various connections, which may lead to amazing opportunities. LinkedIn has become one of the most important websites for finding a job. LinkedIn is important to your career and you should be keeping it updated even if you’re not looking for a job. You never know when you’ll need it. Recruiters and potential employees are there. Most importantly, people who you can potentially do business with are there.

SCOPE

The problems that will be analyzed are the advantages of being a frequent LinkedIn user. This report will discuss who LinkedIn users are, where they are from, the activity performed on profiles, and recommendations on how to have a great profile. This report will not focus on the disadvantages of being a LinkedIn user.

ORGANIZATION

This report is written to inform readers on the importance of having complete profiles LinkedIn. The introduction section will provide background information on this specific networking site. The findings section will go into depth of those who are using LinkedIn, statistics of the usage performed by users, and the users’ concerns of their safety. Following, tips and recommendations on how to create and obtain a strong profile. The conclusion will summarize the problems, procedures, findings, and include recommendations. The information provided in this report has been from articles found on the Internet. The LinkedIn survey used for this report had a sample size of 15-20 people and targeted college students and their knowledge and/or activity on LinkedIn.

FINDINGSPeople Around the World Join LinkedIn

In 2014 there were 347 million users and 75% of its new users came from outside of the United States. Males make up 56% of LinkedIn’s user base and females account for 44%. According to LinkedIn Statistics, in the the beginning of 2015 there were 332 million people on LinkedIn. Two new members join every second. LinkedIn is currently used in over 200 countries and territories and is available in 20 languages. The top three countries in the world with the most registered members are: United States with 111 million approximate users, India with 28 million users, and Brazil with 20 million approximate users. LinkedIn’s users from the United States equal roughly 54 percent of the country’s working age which is 15 to 64 years of age. India with the second most LinkedIn users is the second most populated country in the world and the current country’s working-age population is roughly 700 million people. Brazil is the world’s fifth largest country by landmass and population and the 20 million registered members in the country represent roughly 10 percent of Brazil’s total population.

Because LinkedIn provides the ability to connect with people all over the world, it is transforming the way companies, hire, market, and sell. We rely on networks more than ever to try to make better and more informed decisions. Although, LinkedIn is still a difficult process for most of us it is changing the world of recruiting. The hunting game of research, networking, and referrals can now all be done and accomplished through LinkedIn. In Figure 1, the infographic shows the numbers of people from all over the world who are creating LinkedIn profiles.

Figure 1: Where are LinkedIn Users Located The statistics shown in Figure 1 exhibit LinkedIn’s basic user information in the year 2015.

Source: Statista Designed by Zarah Jane VegaLinkedIn Users Activity vs. Users’ Activity on other Social Sites

LinkedIn has 15% of users signing onto their accounts daily. The average user spends about 9.8 minutes on their site a day. According to LinkedIn, in 2015 the average user spends 17 minutes per month on the site. 85% of LinkedIn users use Facebook. There are one billion total endorsements on LinkedIn at the moment. The average CEO has 930 connections. 59% of LinkedIn members have never worked at a company with more than 200 employees. There are over 39 million students and recent graduates on LinkedIn. In conclusion, LinkedIn has become a valuable tool for businesses and professionals all around the world to connect.

According to Business Insider, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn made major successful pushes last year to increase engagement on their mobile sites and apps. The new race in social media is not for audience, but for multi-device engagement. LinkedIn has tried ways to increase user’s engagement of the time spent on the platform. According to Dennis Russell, Managing Partner at Financial Placements LLC, there are four ways LinkedIn is increasing User Engagement. The four ways LinkedIn created to increase engagement: 1) LinkedIn Messaging transformed to ‘Chat-Style’ Interface, 2) LinkedIn claims it has also improved push and email notifications to make conversations timely and effective, 3) Intelligent messaging assistants (IMAs) feature is in the works, and 4) some new feature making use of voice and video is to make conversations more compelling.

Studies have shown that there are only 50.5% completed profiles by LinkedIn users. That is about half the size of the population of users on LinkedIn. Completed profiles are very important for users who want to gain connections and opportunities. LinkedIn reminds their users to think of their profile as their resume, where all their information is stored. A person with a detailed profile has a strong profile. The more

detailed and filled with information a profile is, the stronger it looks to others. According to LinkedIn, users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.A complete profiles requires adding professional information and request recommendations. LinkedIn provides a list of what makes a profile complete: including your industry and location, an up-to-date current position (with a description), two past positions, education, skills (minimum of three), a profile photo, and at least 50 connections. In Figure 2, the table shows activity usage on social media sites by users.

Figure 2: Activity of Users on Social Networking Sites The statistics shown in Figure 2 exhibit the numbers of usage on network social sites and its users.

LinkedIn Instagram Facebook

% of Users Signing on Daily

15% 60% 65%

Average Daily Time Spent on Site Per User

9.8 minutes 21.2 minutes 42.1 minutes

% of Users Using Facebook

85% 95% n/a

User Activity on Social SitesSource: Social Times Designed by: Zarah Jane Vega

LinkedIn Users Concerned of their Safety and Privacy

LinkedIn is a great resource for professional networking but users feel they might be giving out too much of their own personal information. A handful of information can be taken from your profile and shown to the wrong people. Many users have concerns of their safety. Although, LinkedIn is one of the top leading network social sites and benefits users all over the world to connect and gain connections/ opportunities, with over 300 million users, that makes millions of profiles with personal information available to the public. On social sites like Facebook and Twitter, users are able to post and share hundreds of entertainment videos. For example, an adorable child, breaking news, or funny videos. But when surfing through LinkedIn users will not come across anything entertaining. Instead, people will see different kinds of information because the platform is used for professionals. Just like any other social site there are privacy and security issues. Because users are providing more personal information onto their profile than other social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, there tends to be safety and privacy concerns. Due to the fact that the main purpose of LinkedIn is to have a profile, users are showcasing a digital resume where they share their talents, personal information like where they have gone to school and where they have worked, other skills, and more. Many are afraid that such personal information can get into the wrong hands.

Ways LinkedIn Users Can Feel Safe

In other social networking platforms, unwanted contacts can be easily avoided by blocking those particular users. Unfortunately, on LinkedIn this is a problem for many users. There have been many cases of people using LinkedIn as a stalking platform. A few years ago BuzzFeed reported that the

professional networking site had stalking problem on their hands and over several months around 5,000 people have signed a Change.org petition asking LinkedIn to add the ability to allow users block individuals from viewing his or her profile. (Bindley, Huffington)LinkedIn Help Center has addressed the harassment or safety concern and has provided tips on what you user can do if this particular issue ever arises. “If another member of LinkedIn is repeatedly contacting you on our website, here are some setting you can adjust to avoid unwanted contact and increase your privacy level: block the member from viewing your profile.” There are other ways to make your profile more private by not blocking your profile: Users are able to hide the public version of their profile that is visible to people who aren’t signed in to LinkedIn, Hide their profile photo, change your profile display name, adjust settings for who can send you invitations, and have the option to turn on or off open profile.

LinkedIn Creates a new Blocking Feature

After a long time of requests and demand from the LinkedIn community, LinkedIn came out with a new feature that allows users to block specific member profiles on the site. To access the new feature, users simply visit the profile of the user they want to block and click down the arrow to the right of ‘Send InMail’ button and select the ‘Block or report’ option. This feature adds an additional layer to privacy controls by allowing users to block certain users they make them feel unsafe. This feature will get rid of unwanted direct interactions and network activity. Users are able to view and manage their list of blocked members in their privacy and settings page.

In conclusion, to get the most from LinkedIn, complete your profile. In addition, to completing your profile, keeping it up-to-date is key. Always make sure to adjust or include the information provided on your profile. By doing so users can use the site to its full potential. LinkedIn is a professional site and and should require the same log on time on social sites. If more people logged onto their LinkedIn profiles, the percentage of completed profiles can rise. Having a completed profile can lead to success filled with various opportunities and endless connections. If users feel unsafe there are different safety precaution features available to be adjusted in the settings. In Figure 3, the grid shows LinkedIn users having mixed feelings being on the site.

Figure 3: Quotes about Safety Concerns on LinkedIn. The data provided in this grid exhibits the data collected from people who have taken the survey.

Source: Social Times Designed by: Andrew Davis

CONCLUSION

Summary of Procedures

LinkedIn users have the opportunity to create a profile and make connections all over the world. Instead of conducting all the research and digging, users are able to almost everything on this one networking site. LinkedIn is a site that gives users the option to create a profile for other employers, groups, and

LINKEDIN QUOTESPositive Comments

“LinkedIn helped me find an awesome job opportunity”

“It’s easy to connect with people from all over the world”

“I love that LinkedIn finally installed a blocking feature”

“Active participation on LinkedIn is like saying ‘Look at me!’”

“LinkedIn is the future of networking”

Neutral Comments

“LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional network”

“Our mission is to connect the worlds professionals to make them more productive and successful”

“LinkedIn is publicly held and has a diversified business model”

“Revenues come from member subscriptions, advertising sales, and talent solutions”

“On your LinkedIn profile it’s important to have a professional looking profile picture of yourself”

Negative Comments

“LinkedIn seems like it’s wasting my time”

“LinkedIn opts users into third party sharing without their consent”

“I used to be constantly bothered by men harassing me on LinkedIn”

“LinkedIn isn’t use to hire, it’s used to recruit”

“LinkedIn gives the public too much open information about myself”

members to view. This allows users to gain connections and possibly a career or great opportunities. What most users do not know is that employers usually go to LinkedIn and find your profile to know more about you before offering you a job and/or opportunity. In addition, users with a complete profile tend to stand out more to employers/companies. The more detailed your profile is, the stronger it looks. Only half of LinkedIn’s users have a completed profile. This report is designed to inform readers about having a completed profile on LinkedIn. Without a complete profile, users may lose out on many opportunities and connections.

Summary of Findings

People from all over the world are joining LinkedIn and creating profiles. Which means that users are able to communicate and make connections from all over the world. The top three countries with the most LinkedIn users are the United States, India, and Brazil. There are over 347 million registered users on LinkedIn. Two new members join every second. LinkedIn is currently used in over 200 countries and is available in 20 different languages. LinkedIn is unlike other social networking sites; it is a professional networking platform. In other words, this site is not for entertainment purposes. Compared to Instagram and Facebook, LinkedIn has a low user percentage of users signing on daily to their accounts with just 15%. Instagram and Facebook have a higher percentage of users signing on daily, 60%. The average time spent on the site is 9.8 minutes daily and 85% of LinkedIn users use Facebook. 50.5% of LinkedIn profiles are considered complete. Half of the users on this platform has an opportunity to complete their profiles and gain connections/opportunities. Unfortunately, many users feel unsafe having their personal information made available to the public which could be a concern of why profiles are not complete. Luckily, LinkedIn has provided options for users to adjust privacy settings and block users.

Conclusions

Analysis of LinkedIn’s user registration, usage from users, user activity and user concerns leads to the following conclusions and recommendations about the purpose of this report to inform users to have a strong presence on LinkedIn to complete their profiles and keep it up-to-date:

1. LinkedIn users can log onto their accounts and complete their profiles with the checklist provided on the website.

2. LinkedIn users can adjust privacy settings to their own preference.

3. LinkedIn users should log on more often to update their profiles with correct and current information.

On the basis of these findings, we recommend that LinkedIn users should begin or continue making their profiles strong. It is important to do so to utilize the website to its full ability. Great opportunities and careers can be obtained by doing so. These kinds of benefits might not be given anywhere else. LinkedIn is one of the leading networking social sites that is similar to a hard copy resume and is a great way to build your personal brand.

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