Skip main navigation

New offer! Get 30% off one whole year of Unlimited learning. Subscribe for just £249.99 £174.99. New subscribers only T&Cs apply

Find out more

LinkedIn

In this video, Dr Lee Fallin introduces LinkedIn as a scholarly communication tool.
5
LinkedIn is a professional network. It’s often  also associated with looking for jobs and you   can see that a profile actually looks more like an online digital cv. It’s a great place for you to share   your employment history and experience. There’s a whole range of different functionality built   into LinkedIn that helps you showcase yourself to future employers but from a research perspective   it’s also really helpful. You can share your  latest publications, any awards you’ve received   and any organizations that you’re part of.
37.7
There’s also groups that you can join such as this Nvivo   user group which i use very frequently  to help me connect with other researchers.   On LinkedIn you also have the ability to  share posts where you can share your latest   thoughts, ideas or research. I found LinkedIn a great way to get my research to new audiences.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented social network owned by Microsoft. The platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs.

LinkedIn allows members (both workers and employers) to create profiles and “connect” with each other in an online social network that may represent real-world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone (whether an existing member or not) to become a “connection”. LinkedIn can also be used to organize offline events, join groups, write articles, publish job postings, post photos and videos, and more.

Key stats

According to Microsoft, as of September 2021 LinkedIn has 774+ million registered members from over 200 countries and territories.

How can it be used for scholarly communication?

LinkedIn is a great platform to promote your research to professionals. You can build your profile and connections to share your research directly with those that follow you. You can also use groups and other connections to share your research.

How can it be used for research?

Twitter is a great place to recruit participants. You can connect directly with known individuals via the platform – or can reach out via articles and groups. There is also potential to use LinkedIn content for research, but this is ethically problematic as most of the content is open to connections and is not in the public domain.

Getting started

You can create a LinkedIn account for free and then take a look at 5 Tips to use LinkedIn in promoting your research.

There are a number of related links beneath this article under the see also heading.

This article is from the free online

Being a Digital Researcher: Digital Skills for Effective Research

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now