Linkedin Reaches Out to Students

I think this is very smart on Linkedin's part, and helpful to it's users.  It makes it easier to connect with people in your career destination that have commonalities.  I think as long as they don't get too out of control with allowing students to link personal Twitter on their page, it wont hurt them at all.  Yes, it is up to the user to establish what is professional and what is not, I think that LinkedIn needs to have some control over that. If they want to keep their "professional" use image.

This a great move for Linkedin. I have been a member since I was a freshmen and I still haven't really made an attempt to fully emerse myself in it because I always got the feeling that you had to be older and have experience to be able to use linkedin to your advantage. When I career searched you had to be a graduate with at least five to ten years experience to even apply for positions. Now that linkined in turning their network toward college students, I will be more inclined to visit it the site and start building connections with future employers and co-workers.

The additional features being added to LinkedIn will either end in great success or great failure for the company. Facebook was once limited to users only in college and when the site open to everyone -- including internationally -- it became THE social network and ultimately a generational phenomenon. On the other hand, some sites are meant to stay limited to certain people. Almost every user on LinkedIn uses the site specificially for connecting with businesses and past/present/potential employers/employees. Many users could look down on the new features that are being provided to students, due to the site becoming less-formal and more like a "fun, social networking tool." If experienced users of the site embrace the changes, the site could become an all-in-one "business social network" and career building site, EX: a "Facebook just for business reasons + Monster.com/Career Builder."

This may be a plus for advertisers if the site expands for the better or it could hurt advertisers if they decide to place ads on the site and the company loses their uniques. My fingers are crossed for the company and hoping that the new features provide help/connections for all users.

I feel as though this may be a double edged sword for LinkedIn. One of the big reasons I signed up for it, and my mom for that matter, was because it WAS different then facebook, etc. I like that this is very business oriented. However, I feel as though opening it up more to college kids could be beneficial, but at the same time didn't facebook start the same way? With only college kids? I can tell you already too that I have received a couple requests on linkedin from people that I would never in a 1,000 years actually add to my network. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens here in the near future.

Linkedin's new innitiative with students is intreguing to say the least. Students given the opportunity to connect with professionals sounds positive enough. However, I've got one hold up. All through college, I worked full time to pay my own rent, bills, etc. so my involvement with MSU activities was never very high. Taking full-credit semesters (17 or so on average per semester) while working 50 hour weeks between two and sometimes three jobs just doesn't lend itself to having a lot of other activities. So, from my perspective, giving students extra points for active involvement as opposed to work history doesn't help much. Now, instead of employers looking at my Linkedin profile and thinking, "Wow, she really worked hard to get herself through school," they may instead think, "Well, she worked jobs unrelated to her field and wasn't very involved in school activities or organizations - what did she do at State?" For me, work ethic and dedication as demonstrated in a work environment are far more important assets to someone than involvement in a sorority or fraternity. So, i suppose over-all it seems like a good plan to integrate students into Linkedin, just not me or other people like me who have to work harder than they play during college.

An excellent strategic move on LI's part, for sure... and I can say with some insider knowledge that LinkedIn is putting some heavy resources into growing this segment of their market. MSU students will be a test market for some of the great tools that will be unveiled soon thanks to the recent partnership between MSU and LI, and I think in the end it will benefit both students and the company because graduates will have a better understanding of the power of networking and LI will have an ever-growing market base.

I think its about time LinkedIn did this. Personally, a few weeks ago i joined lots of different MSU groups on LinkedIn and i find it really great because it connects students with professionals. If you are looking for that in at a certain company or industry it is great for making connections. I am looking forward to graduating and being able to use this resourse as i know it will be a valuable tool for landing my first job out of college.

I think it is an extremely smart strategy for Linkedin to reach out to college students by making their profiles more student-friendly. This will benefit everyone because it will generate more users for the site, provide an increased pool of users for networking, and lead to a stronger selection of professionals for businesses that use the site to find new employees. Even though I have had an account on Linkedin for a while, I am glad to have more features available to me that will help diversify my profile. I don't think this will lead to a dilution of professionalism for the site, rather it will diversify the type of professional and add to the quality of networking.

I believe the new feature that linkedin is offering will be cool. It will not cause a dillutuion because everyone who uses linkedin knows what its for. There wont be any changes outside of being more interactive for its user. Again this is something that i look forward to playing around with. I want to see how others will react to the new changes.

I strongly feel that this new feature that Linkedin will begin to offer its users is awesome. Its goal is to still keep it professional (opposite from Facebook) is good to know, but adding a bit of a twist to it really targets those who have yet to create an account. Those students who are focused on studying in the medical field, I feel like would rarely want to have a Linkedin; what's the point of having one if I am not a business student? Although, I strongly feel that everyone needs to have a Linkedin account and with the company wanting to promote various advertisements on its site, will bring in those users who never desired in wanting to be apart of this market. Adding sections to your personal Linkedin page is smart because, it makes certain areas stand out to a viewer of your page. Overall, Linkedin's new idea of advertising on their website is a great way to help engage the people who already use this, but also bring in those who have not yet. 

This is HUGE for LinkedIn! A large portion of people that use social media and networking sites are students. This move will dramatically increase its user base. I know a lot of fellow students that do not use LinkedIn because they feel that they are not looking for a job, have never had a job and feel that LinkedIn is only about linking people through jobs and careers. But this will change it. Being able to link coursework and organizational memberships will help link people who studying the same things and in the future might be working in the same fields. This will give LinkedIn the boost it needs to stay fresh in the social media world.

Linkedin expanding its reach to students can help increase it's presence among the online crowd. Advertisers can absolutely use that new feature to attract more clicks for their online advertisement, however most importantly the students will be open to advertisements that are traditionally reserved for the professional adults, i.e. www.theladders.com.

The new function would be great and will help Linkedin attract more students. I've been using Linkedin for a while, I can not only find professionals I want to connect with, but can also let others find me which is great for students like me to get any possible opportunities in the real field.

The new features mentioned sound like a great opportunity for Linkedin to grow and increase site traffic. There are a lot of students and young professionals using the site, however many will agree that they do not frequent the site as often as Facebook or Twitter. Adding features such as the ability to list courses that you are currently enrolled in as well as increases digital marketing on the site will certainly add to the sites appeal and equity. However, they will need to mindful of the bigger picture, which includes senior executives and such, that may start to move away from the site if it continues to veer towards a more feature based platform instead of its establish business/networking layout.

I think LinkedIn is a great resource for students to professionally network themselves and make connections with professionals. I shuoldn't say just students since it is geared toward anyone in the professional industry, but I feel it is an especially valuable resource for students. I'm curious how many people have gotten hired because they were found on LinkedIn. I think it's great that they are expanding, because the way I see it, the bigger they are, the more people they can help. Like someone else said, it is the professional Facebook. And look how big facebook has gotten. I think we will eventually get to the point where "everyone" is on LinkedIn and it can really give you the connections that you need to find what you are looking for. It is interesting that the world is slowly coming to the point where you don't have to leave your house to find a job... I have mixed feelings on this, and whether or not it is just the advancement of technology or the lazyness of mankind being provoked. But either way, I think LinkedIn is a great resource and should continue to expand. It should be mandatory for students to make a LinkedIn profile when they are seniors in undergrad.

For me, the Linkedin is very useful when you get lost what you really want t be in the future or what set you are. Linkedin provides many professional profiles for people to look at it. For example, if i want to be a consultant in the Mckinsey in the future, i should look and search for the people who are working for Mckinsey or had already got experiences in Mckinsey. and see what they did before they join, which schools they prefer, which major they prefer and previous working experiences they had. Then i could make a plan for myself in order to achieve my goals according to my many exist models.

Linkedin is a great professional social networking site. I think of it as the professional facebook! I am not on it nearly as much as facebook but i think it presents students looking for jobs well. This makes it your time to brag about yourself. Now that it made it even more student friendly by adding your courses and organizations it lets you provide your future employer with all the reason you should be hired over someone else. I love the fact that you can add these things because it shows your qualifications and that you are able to interact with others. This really speaks to employers and lets us have a chance at landing the job we want!

I like that LinkedIn is giving more options for your profile. I have already added the NMDL class. Promoting your class work can be a great way to show businesses examples of what you can do. It is a extension to your resume, which can only give people a more definitive look into your professional career path. This way you can see what classes we have taken, how involved we are and so on. It can also help with interacting with classmates. LinkedIn can help with all of this and I think its great. It is more student friendly but I don't think it will dilute the viewership, it will just help with the career paths of students.

I think the fact that LinkedIn is opening up more for students is a good thing. LinkedIn has a reputation as a professional network and giving students an opportunity to showcase their coursework to potential employers is great. As long as LinkedIn stays professional and not to personal I think it is okay to add extra things like that. Personally, I am not going to share every single class I have ever taken. I will share this class, and other classes where I feel I received exceptional experience or that stand out to potential employers. I feel it is important to keep my profile basic and not cluttered with unimportant information.

I think that this is good for everyone, not just students.  Yes, the idea is beneficial to students as it gives them a better platform for highlighting their interests and talents with only limited amounts of paid/professional work experience.  But, it also aids people like me who continue to try and learn and expand our knowledge set by taking classes and training well after we have graduated and started our careers.  It also helps everyone on LinkedIn because it makes the platform even more useful to recruiters, making them more likely to mine it in search of good candidates for open positions.

At first I didn't understand what the benefit of the whole LinkedIn/Michigan State University, partnership ws going to bring. However after investingating it a bit on LinkedIn, it actually allows for student to explain what elements of the workforce we have learned and/or had training for in our classes. Every school has a different curriculum, I believe MSU requires students to go above and beyond in some classes and some employeers don't know this. For example my ADV 486 Capstone class we have actual clients that the University has partnered with and we have to make an advertsing plan and pitch it to the clients. This class is a professional setting with professional workload. At the end of the class we have a printed proposal of our campaign to present to both our client and professor. Most school do not require such an elaborate process as thier Capstone class and I believe this is something we can brag about.

I was happy to hear the news that LinkedIn has reached out to students. I wish LinkedIn was more prevalant while I was finishing up my undergraduate education. I think students will greatly benefit from getting their information out to potential employers and recruiters before the end of their education. LinkedIn's ability to connect people is a powerful tool. We have staff on this campus that are very experience in LinkedIn, such as John Hill from the MSU Alumni Career Services. I hope MSU students take advantage of this opportunity and build a professional image online, away from Facebook.

The introduction of this new features will definitely draw more students into LinkedIn. This is great news for students including me to have a chance to tell other professionals about what we have acccomplished during our education. The potential recruiters will see what courses the students have studied that related to the professions they are looking for; therefore, they know what those students are capable of. These features generate more opportunities for students to reach to potential employers. This is very important for us as a job seekers especially in economic recession.

I think it is great to target students while still making it known that LinkedIn is a professional networking site. It would be great to use this platform to interact with classmates without having to "friend" them on facebook and share your life with them. 

By being able to show different course work, it might trigger different connections with professionals and give a springboard of topics to cover. It will show the diverse talent that student aquire during their education, because it shows the choices they have made in the type of education they want to attain. I have personally used LinkedIn to help me create connections with professionals and has opened the door for me to communicate with professionals who might otherwise screen my calls. 

I think this is a smart move by LinkedIn because they are making themselves more appealing to the younger crowd without losing there business credibility. They found a way to become a more useful resource for college students which will result in more traffic and activity on the LinkedIn website, by creating more buzz among their own website it also creates a bigger appeal for advertisers to invest in LinkedIn. LinkedIn is being wise to not let themselves be considered a social media website first, and a professional website second (but vise versa). I have made a LinkedIn account in the past but have not touched it since, but after learning about these new features I will look into using LinkedIn more often from now on.

I love that LinkedIn is reaching out to students. A resume doesn't always paint an accurate picture of the student. The newly available LinkedIn features will help fill in the blanks with special projects, memberships, test scores, etc. I am envious of my classmates. I wish all of these tools were available to me as a college student 20+ years ago. It sure would have made networking and job hunting a heck of a lot easier. But it's not too late; I can still use these tools and new features as I continue my career or when I decide to change it.