1. How College Students Use
LinkedIn, Why Some Don’t Use It,
and Why It Is Important
Bela Florenthal
Michael Dykhouse
William Paterson University

2. Objectives & Rational
๏ Provide an insight into (a) whether and
(b) how students use LinkedIn - a leading
Professional Networking Site
๏ Rational:
‣ PNSs have not been examined as a distinct
social networking category for usage by
college students

3. Objectives & Rational
๏ Suggest on-campus IMC program to
increase LinkedIn usage by college
students
๏ Rational:
‣ LinkedIn possesses unique characteristics
(e.g., posting jobs & resumes)
‣ Universities direct students to professional
websites

4. Theoretical Background
๏ Nielsen reports that:
‣ about 75% of online users, spend on
average 22% of their time on social
networking sites (Roberts and Zahay-
Blatz 2012)
๏ LinkedIn is a leading Professional
Networking Site (PNS) that
‣ has more than 100 million subscribers
with a median user age of 39 years
(Sago 2010; Bradley 2011).

5. Theoretical Background
๏ Profiles on LinkedIn are significantly
different from their Facebook or Twitter
profiles (Bradley 2011; Buck 2012):
‣ members upload their resume to to
establish a professional identity
‣ use LinkedIn recourses to find employment
‣ build professional connections with past
and present coworkers or classmates

6. Theoretical Background
๏ Professional identity:
‣ defined as “the perception of oneself as a
professional and as a particular type of
professional” (Bucher and Stelling 1977, p.
213)
‣ individuals should start investing in their
professional identity early to build a stable
and credible image of themselves (Ibarra
1999; Sweitzer 2008)

7. Research Questions
๏ Park et al. (2009) identified four needs
students fulfill when using Facebook:
‣ (a) socializing, (b) entertainment, (c) self-
status seeking, and (d) information
seeking.
๏ Research questions:
‣ How generalized are these needs to
LinkedIn? and
‣ Can other needs drive LinkedIn usage?

8. Research Questions
๏ Universities direct students to career-related
websites (Roberts and Zahay-Blatz 2012)
๏ Universities’ IMC has on-campus
communication tools that target enrolled
students (Jensen and Jepsen 2006)
๏ Research Question:
‣ Can LinkedIn partner with universities to develop
campus-specific IMC program that target inactive
student users?

9. Methodology
๏ In-depth interview were conducted with 16
business juniors and seniors
๏ Usage-based segmentation provided by
Alarcon-del-Amo et al. (2012) guided our
study and three group were sampled:
‣ Non-users: students who did not have a
LinkedIn account
‣ Non-active users: students who have a
LinkedIn account but rarely access it
‣ Active users: students who have a LinkedIn
account and access it frequently

10. Methodology
๏ The in-depth interview we conducted on
campus for a duration of 20-30 minutes
๏ Students were preselected based on
gender, year in school, and usage
๏ Examples of questions asked during the
interview:
‣ How many connections do you have on
LinkedIn? How often do you interact with
your connections on LinkedIn?
‣ How often do you update your profile on
LinkedIn? What type of information do
you post on your profile?

11. Descriptive Characteristics (%)
Non-Active
Total Non-Users Active Users
Characteristics Users
N=16 n1=5 n3=4
n2=7
Gender:
M/F 50/50 60/40 43/57 50/50
Major:
MKT & PS/Other 68/32 60/40 43/57 50/50
Year in College:
Juniors/Seniors 68/32 40/60 0/100 75/25
Have Facebook
94 80 100 100
account
Have Twitter
63 40 71 75
account
Have additional
social media 75 40 86 100
accounts (1-3)

12. Results
๏ Non-users intend to open an account in
the future
‣ 60% will open when they start looking for a
job or an internship
๏ Most active users (75%) access their
LinkedIn account daily
๏ 71% of non-active users access their
account once or twice a week or a month

13. Results
๏ Profile Management
‣ 50% of non-users anticipate posting their
resume when they open an account
‣ Non-active users
• 43% posted their current and past experience,
expertise/skills, and education
‣ Active users
• 75% posted their resume information, in
particular current and past experience
• 50% posted expertise/skills and education
information

14. Results
๏ Connections and Discussion Groups:
‣ active users have between 40 – 88
connections
‣ non-active have between 0 – 20 connections
‣ all active users were involved in 4 - 9
discussion groups
‣ less than 30% of non-active users were
involved in 1 – 3 discussion groups
‣ All active users were members of university-
related discussion groups

15. Results
๏ Recommendations and Mobile
Application:
‣ 50% present of active users gave and
received 1 – 2 recommendations
‣ 14% of non-active users gave or received 1
recommendation
‣ Almost none of the active and non-active
users were aware of the mobile application

16. LinkedIn Benefits
๏ Four main benefits were identified for
LinkedIn users:
‣ Network and connect (70%)
• “Facebook for professionals”
‣ Find jobs and internship opportunities (44%)
• “Post, search, and get jobs”
‣ Build visibility and self-promotion (25%)
• “Gain visibility and be able to market yourself”
‣ Access professional information (19%)
• “Look up, follow, and learn about businesses”

17. Conclusions
๏ PNS vs. SNS Segments
‣ The 3 LinkedIn groups resemble 3 segments
of SNS user typology (Alarcon-del-Amo et al.
2012) :
• SNS introverts are similar to LinkedIn non-users
• SNS novel users similar to LinkedIn non-active
users
• SNS versatile users are similar to LinkedIn
active users
‣ Our study shows that students can be very
active on Facebook and Twitter but very
inactive on LinkedIn

18. Conclusions
๏ PNS Benefits vs. SNS Needs (Park et al.
2009):
‣ Facebook socializing need is similar to
LinkedIn networking/connecting benefit
‣ Facebook self-status seeking is similar to
LinkedIn self-promotion benefit
‣ Facebook information seeking need is
similar to LinkedIn access to professional
information benefit
‣ Facebook entertainment need is
dissimilar to LinkedIn benefit to find jobs/
internships

19. Implications
๏ On-campus IMC program to increase
LinkedIn usage:
‣ Information sessions and seminars for greek
houses and career advancement centers
‣ Setting up demonstration and registration
booths during job fairs
‣ Support in career advancement centers for
students that want to open a LinkedIn account
‣ Encourage more university-related discussion
groups

20. Limitations
๏ Sample size and the sample pool
‣ 16 business juniors and seniors were used
‣ A study with more diverse sample should
follow
๏ Only one qualitative method, in-depth
interviews, was used
‣ Other methods should be implemented to
validate our findings

21. Q&A