LinkedIn: Another SNS

For about a week now I have been following the LinkedIn social networking site and noting how it applies to libraries. LinkedIn, which was briefly mentioned during class, is a social networking tool designed for librarians, and other related professions, to network themselves and to stay abreast of their colleagues work. As far as the site’s usefulness to libraries, I would say other than recruiting professionals; the site is geared more towards librarians. Although, LinkedIn can be very attractive site for a library looking for a skilled professional since the site allows the user to post their works and interests.

Linked has various features that allows a person to showcase his or hers work. The SNS asks for specific details about the persons schooling and place of work, such as the name of the school, place of the school, year of graduation, and degree. The same questions are asked about person’s current employment; the name of the company, place, title, and duties are all asked. It also allows a person to post their past employment history, any specialty’s they have, blogs, groups or websites the person follow, along with various other items. LinkedIn also includes special features that allows postings of SlideShare and Google presentations, polls, blogs, and a Reading List by Amazon just to name a few. Basically, you are posting (or advertising) your resume and interest online for potential employers.

Obviously LinkedIn was not created with privacy in mind. About the only items the site does not post about a person is their personal address. Of course, one can list false information, but as I have learned, there is no point in joining this network if you are going to list false information. The whole point of the site is for networking yourself and searching for jobs.

I admit, I had troubles accepting how public this information is until I started thinking about our profession and our overall use of the web. If we look back on our education and daily professional lives, we will see that often the information posted on LinkedIn has already been shared to the public. While attending Pratt, I have frequently been required to follow library related blogs. A few common features the blogs included were information on the bloggers background: their current employer, their title, their interest, and other blogs they follow; basically, all the information being listed on LinkedIn. The same thing is true about guest speakers and lecturers, they almost always note their background, interest, title, and at times, their educational background is also noted. I guess what I am trying to get at, is that while LinkedIn is a social network with very little protection of privacy, it just reflects the atmosphere we live in today.