About My Term Research Paper: LinkedIn

LinkedIn: Business-Oriented Social Networking 

Benefits along with Negative impacts on Society

Full Version @ TurnItIn

My research tools are as followings:

·         Internet Search, especially Scholarly reference

·         E-Database Research articles, including Baruch Library databases

·         Newpapers articles

·         Interview with end users

·         Blogs& Wikis articles about my LinkedIn

LinkedIn

social media survey results

Learning is very much subjective. LinkedIn is a mainstream business application with several important capabilities. First, it is a large database of business professionals with 90 million members as of January 2011. Each user has a record that contains 1) biographical information - called a profile, 2) a list of business associates also on LinkedIn, and 3) contact information. Second, it is a social network. A social network brings together people who have relationships and who potentially could have relationships. This is accomplished, in large part, through the key word search function. Third, LinkedIn provides convenient channels of communication, allowing its members to interact and share. This is accomplished by 1) the feature of sending e-mails through LinkedIn to members of your network and 2) discussion groups organized around specialized topics.

LinkedIn offers free basic accounts, which are adequate for most users. It also offers paid subscriptions. Paid subscriptions return a higher number of search results and permit sending e-mails (or in mails) to members not a part of your network. “LinkedIn paid accounts are generally geared toward professionals, such as HR representatives and recruiters ...”(Burnham, 2010).

I wasn't a great fan of Social Networking that much. So even though I registered with LinkedIn couple of years ago, I hardly use this community. But this summer 2011 changed my views as I was having benefits after updating my LinkedIn profile. I was extending my professional network to my various employers, colleges. So when I got an opportunity to choose my research topic for New Media class, I chose LinkedIn. And I was confident I can come up with paper which can bring a detail face of this social networking media.

Business professors find LinkedIn to be extremely useful, and so will you. They use LinkedIn to get reacquainted with former friends, associates and former students, sending out an occasional personal note to a few members of their network. In addition, they connect with consulting clients, directors and staff of state CPA societies, professionals at the FASB and PCAOB. Professors make these connections because it is easy to have directed communication through LinkedIn. Not only do professors need to send notes to, they also receive communications from textbook authors, journalists, professionals and form students through LinkedIn.

social media survey results



Blogs vs. Wikis

Blog
Blog, short for web log, an online, regularly updated journal or newsletter that is readily accessible to the general public by virtue of being posted on a website. Blogs typically report and comment on topics of interest to the author, and are usually written and posted using software specifically designed to facilitate blogging; they include hyperlinks to other website and, often, photos, video clips, and the like. The most recent entry by the blogger is posted at the beginning of the blog, with earlier entries following in reverse chronological order; comments and other responses to the blog by readers are often posted after each entry.


A blog (a blend of the term web log) is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging or vlogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. As of 16 February 2011, there were over 156 million public blogs in existence. Wikipedia on Blogs
 
Wiki
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and cross links between internal pages on the fly.


A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include community websites, corporate intranets, knowledge management systems, and note services. Wikis serve different purposes. Some permit control over different functions (levels of access). For example editing rights may permit changing, adding or removing material. Others may permit access without enforcing access control. Other rules can be imposed for organizing content. Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Wikipedia on Wikis

Blogs and Wikis
After reading this article Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid, we can easily recognize the importance of blogs.

This New York Times article  An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified shows how the wikis becoming very useful not only to individuals also Governments. The advantages are obvious, in efficiency and in saving paper, but it has required a leap of faith, too.