Are You LinkedIn?
Whitney Olson
George Mason University
IT 104-003
October 4, 2016

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Introduction:
Have you ever found yourself applying to job posting after job posting without receiving
so much as a call back? The reason may be that you do not have a strong enough presence on
professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn. Now considered a founding father in its realm,
“LinkedIn is a professional network that allows you to be introduced to and collaborate with
other professionals” (Turner, 2016). Since it’s inception almost 14 years ago, LinkedIn has
become much more than an online forum for professionals to reach out to and network with one
another. The site’s presence and significance in professional culture has gown to a point, for
instance, that many employers in today’s job market will not even consider an applicant if they
can not provide a LinkedIn profile. As the days of paper resumes fade, however, implications
arise to the increased online presence of both employers and employees. Looking into the
background of LinkedIn, its current uses, and security issues, along with the social, legal and
ethical implications of a culture of on-line professional interacting, it is evident that the change to
digital networking brings with it with both benefits and complications.
Background And Current Use
LinkedIn was created in 2002 in the living room of, Reid Hoffman, one of the site’s
founders and “officially launched on May 5, 2003” (“About Us,” n.d.). At the close of its first
month of operation, the site claims to have already attained over 4,500 members in operation. In
the last 13 years LinkedIn has only increased in size and relevance in the world of online
professional networking and now boasts, “LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional
network on the Internet with more than 450 million members in over 200 countries and
territories” (“About Us,” n.d.).
What though, does LinkedIn really do? According to an article published by the Houston
Chronicle, LinkedIn “allows members to contact past and current colleagues, look for a new job,
uncover new business opportunities and network with experts within a particular industry” (S.
Scott, 2016) Author Sherri Scott goes on to discuss that though it only takes a few pieces of
information to become a member of the site, it is when a member updates, hones and maintains
their member “profile,” that their membership becomes valuable to their professional networking
ability. Scott points out that, “On the profile page, you can link to personal websites and blogs
as well as provide information about groups and organizations you belong to” (S. Scott, 2016). A
member can also upload a copy of their resume for potential employers to view, highlighting the
importance of keeping one’s profile up to date.
Currently LinkedIn offers four different kinds of accounts to service its clients. A “Basic”
account is “free but has limited account features,” while a “Business” account costs $24.95 per
month but allows the user to view “up to 300 profiles when searching for business professionals
to connect with” (S. Scott, 2016). Other options are the “Business Plus” and “Executive”
accounts, which cost $49.95 and $99.95 per month respectively. These accounts, in correlation to
the amount a user is paying per month, offer increased connection making abilities, profile
viewing and storage options. While the “Basic” and “Business” account types are suitable for
those on the job hunt and those seeking to make professional networking connections, the later
account types are, perhaps, more attractive to employers than job applicants. With the “Business
Plus” and “Executive” a recruiter for a company can use the site to search a wide pool of
potential employees to find the right choice for the open position. In this way, LinkedIn has
developed a business model that appeals to a wide market of individuals and keeps the
company’s revenue growing year after year (About Us, n.d.).


Security Aspects:
Because LinkedIn holds what amounts to a full history of a person’s professional life,
along with possible links to their professional connections, education history, and resumes,
security and privacy are bound to be an issue for the site. What is more, if and when the site is
compromised, security issues can continue to arise for the company and its users for years to
come. LinkedIn speaks out as a company about such security issues that have arisen for the
company on their official blog site in a progressively update blog entitled “Protecting Our
Members” (C. Scott, 2016). On May 18, 2016, the blog’s author, Cory Scott, addresses a 2012
case in which “LinkedIn was the victim of an unauthorized access and disclosure of some
members' passwords” (C. Scott, 2016). Scott summarizes the steps the company took to address
the problem four years earlier, namely a mandatory changing of all passwords. Incidentally,
however, Scott references this 2012 attack because the day just before the blog entry, the
company “became aware of an additional set of data that had just been released that claims to be
email and hashed password combinations of more than 100 million LinkedIn members from that
same theft in 2012” (C. Scott, 2016). Though the writer goes on to articulate the ways in which
LinkedIn “take(s) the safety and security of our members' accounts seriously” (C. Scott, 2016),
connections between the large 2012 security breach and current “reports of…accounts being
compromised” continue to be implied.
In a further effort to keep their members informed, on the same official blog site,
LinkedIn addresses how the site is using “cookies” to increase security for the site’s members. In
the online world, “cookies” or bits of individualized information stored by a web browser or
website such as LinkedIn, can be used for a variety of purposes. In a Blog entitled, “Updates to
Our Cookie Policy,” LinkedIn blog writer Sara Harrington defends the sites use of “cookies” by
describing they help keep uses’ accounts safe. The author states, “cookies enable us to identify
your device, secure your access to LinkedIn and our sites generally, and even help us know if
someone attempts to access your account from a different device” (Harrington, 2016). Though
the wording used by the author may sound positive, the author goes on to explain that LinkedIn
retains the right to share analytics created by their uses’ “cookies” with their “advertising
customers” (Harrington, 2016).

Social Implications:
Although LinkedIn is considered a “professional” rather than “social” networking site,
the online interactions that occur within the site, along with the changes occurring in the way
professionals interact because of sites like LinkedIn, hold wide social implications. No mater
what profession one might be interested in, it is no surprise that at least portions of the hiring
process, networking with fellow professionals, and research into appropriate business
demographics will involve having at least some online presence. Because of the ease LinkedIn
and other professional networking sites have added to processes such as these, the use of these
sites continues to grow and is increasingly becoming a social norm in the lives of professionals,
regardless of their fields.
In the article “Sociability and social interaction on social networking websites,” writers
Keenan and Ali state, “Social websites have become a major medium for social interaction”
(Keenan & Ali, 2009). The authors state that the goal of their essay was “to evaluate the social
features of social websites and discuss the strategies these websites use to encourage interaction”
(Keenan & Ali, 2009). The researches, after having established an online presence on MySpace,
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, use the article to record their findings on the sites’ respective
facilitation of online interactions. What is noteworthy about the authors’ LinkedIn experience, is
that though LinkedIn is considered a “professional” networking site, the article states that
because “creating a network of users on LinkedIn was difficult,” the researchers “used [their]
existing user network from MySpace and Facebook to generate a new network on LinkedIn.”
The institution of social networking sites has caused professional interaction and networking to
change to such a degree that to establish oneself in their field, a person not only needs to
maintain a strong presence on professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, but would, it
seems, do well to establish a strong social network online as well. Sociologically speaking, the
implications of such a change in interaction, occurring in a relatively short period of time are far
reaching, affecting almost every person who wishes to professionally network.

Legal And Ethical Implications:
With regard to the legal and ethical implications of Professional networking sites such as
LinkedIn, authors Ross Slovensky and William Ross have published an article entitled, “Should
human resource managers use social media to screen job applicants? Managerial and legal issues
in the USA.” The authors look at “legal issues associated with using social networking web
sites…for personnel selection” (Slovensky & Ross, 2012). With the understanding that members
primarily use sites such as LinkedIn to communicate with employers and other professionals, the
authors examine the legal and ethical dilemmas that arise as these sites are also used to “allow
recruiters to conduct extensive background checks” when vetting potential employees
(Slovensky & Ross, 2012).
Regarding the legality of using Social Networking Sites to look into a persons’ criminal
history, reputation and associations, the authors state, “US law in this area is still developing”
(Slovensky & Ross, 2012). The article goes on to say, “some suggest that because private
information is voluntarily posted to third parties (e.g. social networking web sites), such
information is afforded little legal protection” (Slovensky & Ross, 2012). Though users of all
social networking sites should be conscious that at this point in time vetting a potential employee
by viewing their online posts remains legal, realistically, users of LinkedIn should be even more
conscious of the information they disclose on their LinkedIn profile. The site was created for the
purpose of professional networking. Its intent is, therefore, to connect employers, employees,
colleagues, business associates, and potential clients with one another in a professional capacity.
Hence, if one choses to use the site, they may find it prudent to present themself in a manor, that
does not allude to criminal, or even questionable behavior.
Correspondingly, employers’ use of social networking sites to check the background of
an employee before hire presents ethical problems as well. The article goes on to point out that
when a person in “googled” or researched on professional/social networking sites, the true
identity of a candidate is difficult to verify. The authors write, “many people have similar names,
even within the same geographic area. For an employer to screen an applicant whom he or she
has never met through a SNW is to invite error. Further, the applicant may never even know that
he or she was rejected because of the inappropriate web site of someone else with the same
name” (Slovensky & Ross, 2012). Although these sites can be used as a tool to research a job
applicant before hire, the ethicality of judging an applicant base on proves problematic because,
as the authors go on to say, “accounts on many of SNWs can be created for free, and imitation
accounts are not uncommon” (Slovensky & Ross, 2012).

Conclusion:
As LiknedIn continues to grow both in membership numbers and in revenue as a
corporation, it is increasingly evident that both the site and the reality of online professional
networking are becoming a part of modern culture. Though LinkedIn membership and profile
building remain the elective decision of each user, it is gradually more and more difficult to
obtain a job or network with other professional with out the use of the site as a medium.
Research indicates that because of such changes, sites such as LinkedIn are now dictating
changes in social interaction, facilitating professional connections based less on in-person
interaction and more on connections established on it and other social networking sites. Research
also acknowledges that legal and ethical implications come into play, when one is required to
maintain a strong online presence. Few laws impose on an employer’s right to vet a prospective
hire by researching their social networking history, making it important for a person to maintain
an upright standing on LinkedIn and other websites. Ethically however, researching job
candidates in this way presents a problem when it comes to verifying the identity of the person
being vetted. While the melding of social and professional online networking seem the inevitable
manor in which business will be conducted on into the future, one can not deny that this change
brings with it a wide array of benefits and complications.

References:

About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin
Created by LinkedIn and accessible form LinkedIn's main home page, this website
provides information about LinkedIn as a site and as a company. The website sheds
light on LinkedIn's history, growth, physical offices, fulltime employees, available
languages, world-wide memberships, regional memberships and respective
quantities in each catigory. This site also briefly discusses LinkedIn's 2016 revenue
distribution by revenue stream, boasting that their total revenue increased 31%
yearly to $933 million.

Harrington, S. (2016, August 4). Updates to Our Cookie Policy. Retrieved from
https://blog.linkedin.com/2016/08/04/updates-to-our-cookie-policy
This site is a blog forum in which LinkedIn writer, Sara Harrington posts about
LinkedIn's use of their users' "cookies." In this essay, information form the blog was
use to analyze how the company uses cookies for a variety of purposes, one of which
is to safeguard the security of its members. This blog also makes clear the steps
LinkedIn is taking to communicate its use of "cookies" to its members.

Keenan, A., & Ali, S. (2009). Sociability and social interaction on social networking websites.
Library Review, 58(6), 438-450. from
doi:http://dx.doi.org.mutex.gmu.edu/10.1108/00242530910969794
This article discusses the social implications involved in achieving social
connections by means of social media, looking into various social media sites
including LinkedIn. In this essay this article was used to investigate how social
interaction is changing because of social networking websites, specifically in the
professional world as regards the use of LinkedIn. Excerpts were used to show that
though LinkedIn is a professional networking sites, it is difficult to develop a
"network" without the use of other social networks.

Scott, C. (2016, May 18). Protecting Our Members. Retrieved from
https://blog.linkedin.com/2016/05/18/protecting-our-members
This site is a blog forum in which LinkedIn employee, Cory Scott posts about
LinkedIn's various security issues and what the company is doing to protect those
who use the site. In this essay, information form the blog was use to analyze not only
security issues that arise for LinkedIn users, but also the ongoing implications past
security breeches can have on the present. This blog also makes clear the steps
LinkedIn has taken to correct such issues.

Scott, S. (2016). How Does LinkedIn Work? Retrieved September 25, 2016, from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/linkedin-work-11688.html
This article was published in the small business section of the Houston Chronicle
and highlights the details of LinkedIn memberships, the importance of creating a
profile and the various profile options and pricing offered by the site. In this essay,
this article was used to look into the current use on LinkedIn along with details that
highlight various actions members can use the website to accomplish.

Slovensky, R., & Ross, W. H. (2012). Should human resource managers use social media to
screen job applicants? managerial and legal issues in the USA. Info : The Journal of
Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, Information and Media, 14(1),
55-69. Retrieved from
doi:http://dx.doi.org.mutex.gmu.edu/10.1108/14636691211196941
This article examines the ethical and legal dilemmas involved when a company’s Human
Resource department uses social media to vet job applicants. In this essay, quotes from
this source can be found under the heading “Legal and Ethical Implications.” This article
was used to demonstrate rights employers have to use social networking sites in this way,
secondary to a lack of laws in place to prevent them from doing so. Ethical implications
are also highlighted, namely those that arise secondary to difficulties with identity
verification on LinkedIn and other networking sites.

Turner, A. L. (2016, July 27). 20 Social Networking Sites for Business Professionals. Retrieved
September 18, 2016 from
https://www.sitepoint.com/social-networking-sites-for-business/
This site is a blog posting that describes 20 professional social networking sites with
reference to specific targeted demographics. This site is dedicated to blogs on digital and
IT subject matter. In this essay, Amber Leigh Turner’s July 2016 blog was used to
provide a broad and widely accepted definition of how LinkedIn is understood when
compared to other sites catering to business professionals.