LinkedIn is often thought of as a platform for business networking and making professional connections. With over 830 million members worldwide, LinkedIn has become the go-to site for establishing an online professional presence and networking with others in your industry. But is LinkedIn strictly for business, or can it also be used for more casual social networking? Let’s take a closer look at what LinkedIn is and who uses it to determine if it qualifies as a true social networking site.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn, which launched in 2003, bills itself as the world’s largest professional network. The platform allows members to create profiles highlighting their work experience, education, skills, and accomplishments. Users can connect with colleagues, classmates, business partners, and more. LinkedIn profiles serve as interactive resumes that can be found via search by potential employers or partners. LinkedIn also facilitates job searching and recruitment.
At its core, LinkedIn revolves around establishing and cultivating professional connections. Users can invite colleagues and associates to connect on the platform. Recommendations and endorsements help members build their brand and credibility. LinkedIn Groups around industries, professions, colleges, and other topics allow members to share content, participate in discussions, and connect with a niche community.
Who Uses LinkedIn and Why?
The majority of LinkedIn’s users tend to be white-collar professionals and knowledgeable workers. According to LinkedIn’s 2022 Workforce Learning report, the most common job functions on the platform are:
- Information Technology
- Corporate Services
- Education
- Marketing
- Sales
LinkedIn appeals to these demographics for several reasons:
- Networking – Connecting with colleagues, business partners, and industry influencers.
- Recruiting – Finding new career opportunities and applicants.
- Personal Branding – Highlighting skills, experience, accomplishments.
- Business Development – Generating leads, partners, and new business.
- Thought Leadership – Establishing expertise and credibility.
- Job Searching – Finding and applying for open positions.
- Learning – Taking online courses and accessing professional development resources.
Essentially, LinkedIn provides the tools and reach needed to manage a professional reputation, promote one’s brand, network, advance a career, generate business opportunities, and demonstrate thought leadership.
Is LinkedIn Social Networking?
With a focus on career networking and development, LinkedIn facilitates relationship building amongst professionals that mimics offline networking. In that regard, LinkedIn is undoubtedly social. However, there are also key differences between LinkedIn and more traditional social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Traditional Social Networks | |
---|---|
Professional focus | Personal focus |
Career networking | Casual socializing |
Thought leadership content | Newsfeeds and shared content |
Building credibility | Photo/video sharing |
Corporate culture | Individual expression |
As this comparison illustrates, LinkedIn has a distinctly professional and career-oriented purpose versus more traditional social media platforms geared towards personal expression and casual social interaction. LinkedIn is focused on establishing credibility and authority rather than just sharing life updates.
Similarities to Social Networking
However, there are also similarities between LinkedIn and other social networks:
- Profile creation
- List of connections
- Ability to view other profiles
- Joining interest-based groups
- Newsfeed for sharing content
- Commenting and liking
- Direct messaging
So while the culture and intent differs, LinkedIn does share many of the capabilities common to mainstream social networking platforms – just with a professional twist.
Social Use Cases
LinkedIn is also sometimes used for more casual social purposes like:
- Reconnecting with old colleagues
- Following industry thought leaders
- Joining alumni or interest groups
- Discovering professional events
- Following company pages
These use cases, while still career-oriented, demonstrate LinkedIn does facilitate a type of social engagement beyond hardcore networking and recruitment.
The Verdict
Given its professional focus and the nature of the connections formed on the platform, LinkedIn is distinctly different from mainstream social networking sites. However, LinkedIn incorporates many familiar social capabilities and is commonly used for keeping up with colleagues, learning, discussion, and lightweight social engagement alongside more serious career networking.
Therefore, while not a pure social networking platform, LinkedIn does contain many social elements and provides a unique form of social networking centered around career development and establishing industry connections versus casual friendship.
In summary:
- LinkedIn facilitates professional networking and career development.
- It is focused on managing reputations, personal branding, and thought leadership.
- The platform incorporates social capabilities like profiles, newsfeeds, groups, and messaging.
- LinkedIn is commonly used for keeping up with colleagues and alumni.
- It enables a form of social engagement unique to career networking.
So while LinkedIn is more serious and professional than traditional social networks, it does provide a type of business-oriented social networking platform for establishing industry relationships and managing a professional profile.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while LinkedIn has a professional focus that differentiates it from mainstream social networking platforms, it does incorporate social features and facilitate relationship building between colleagues, business partners, and industry peers. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider LinkedIn a unique form of social networking centered around career advancement versus casual socializing. However, it is this professional focus that makes LinkedIn distinctly different and focused on business networking and development versus purely social purposes.