Student Column: Professional Networking Online: "Best Practices" for LinkedIn.com and Academia.edu

by Rahul Mitra, Purdue U

Thankfully, as communication scholars, we understand the value of networking per se, which means that I don’t have to start this column with a “Why network?” justification, and can get on to the “Why online?” question right away.

So what is it that can be gained online that might not be feasible offline, for emerging scholars? Well, answer this question: when you get home from London 2013, where you had a great chat with the respondent, Dr. Famous, how are you going to stay in touch her? Will you add her on Facebook? Tweet “Dr. F is so aweee-sooome!” perhaps? I sincerely hope not. Connecting with Dr. Famous via LinkedIn or academia.edu instead is a great way to stay in touch professionally, without crossing any personal boundaries – on either side. It’s like a great handshake, showcasing some more of your academic “brand” that might not have been feasible in that 5-minute chat in a crowded conference room.

How exactly do you build that brand online? I will talk about two main tools here: LinkedIn, which I have already mentioned, and academia.edu.

Let’s talk LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn is tried-and-true for many of us. Most people think of it as best suited for networking in “industry” careers, rather than in academe, but this is a huge fallacy. Do a quick search on the site and you’ll find most of the top scholars in our field there, whatever be their specialization – organizational communication, public relations, rhetoric, media studies, interpersonal communication, health communication, etc. LinkedIn offers more than just the ability to transfer your 8-page CV into an online page; it allows you to play around with several interactive tools that build on and strengthen your CV.

• For instance, take the “recommendations” tool, which helps you seek out recommendations from past and present mentors, supervisors, and/or colleagues to feature on your profile.
• Recently, LinkedIn also rolled out an “endorsements” tool that makes recommending contacts much easier.
• For those special “projects” that might not quite fit into research or teaching categories – for example, a consultancy job for a nonprofit organization – you can add a separate section.
• You can also upload academic papers, Powerpoint slides of your research or teaching, and showcase relevant “groups” that you’ve joined (please feel free to join the ICA group!) to pad up your online presence – add-ons that might not be feasible if you’re creating a website from scratch for yourself.
• Finally, the LinkedIn algorithm does your social networking for you: it combs your interests, skills, expertise, and recommendations to suggest new connections for you, so that you’re able to find that brilliant scholar who made that really insightful remark at your London 2013 presentation, but whose name you forgot to ask before she left the room.

Don’t Forget Academia.edu

Why both Twitter and Facebook? Can’t you do the same thing in one or the other? The simple answer is, “No.”Different media create different forms of networks that allow you to share different types of resources, and so the professional networking that LinkedIn allows should be supplemented by that facilitated by academic.edu. Tailored more precisely for professional networks in academe, the website forefronts your work and identity, without going through the detailed “life story” LinkedIn profiles typically generate.

• As a result, academia.edu profiles are often tighter and more precise: you can provide a description of who you are and what form of research you do, upload samples of your work, and feature important job documents (like your CV, research statement, or teaching philosophy).
• While being more rigid in form than LinkedIn, academia.edu features some benefits that LinkedIn does not; for instance, the “analytics” tab allows you to trace who, from which country, viewed your profile and/or your uploaded documents, using what key search words. This is handy, not only because you get to keep track of how your online profile gets accessed, but also gives you insight as to what kinds of scholars are looking you up, who might be interested in your work (for future collaborations, jobs, etc.).
• Academia.edu, like LinkedIn, asks you to select expertise areas, but the areas here are much more geared towards academic audiences, letting you use more scholarship-focused jargon. So, while my LinkedIn profile mentions “qualitative research methods” as a skill, my academia.edu profile highlights “grounded theory,” “critical discourse analysis,” “rhetorical criticism,” and “narrative analysis.”
  • You can also use the discussion threads to ask a detailed research question or seek advice on professional issues from a host of scholars, from various disciplines. In my own use of the threads, I’ve conversed with scholars from sustainability science, organizational behavior, sociology, psychology, management strategy, and philosophy, to mention but a few fields.
• Finally, academia.edu asks you to locate yourself not just within your home university, but also within your discipline vis-à-vis other fields, stimulating that internal inquiry as to who you are as a scholar and what kind of research you aspire to do. Believe me, that inquiry will prove vital when you are ready to graduate and are considering the “What next?” question.

In closing, I want to underline that professional networking online is not a substitute for, but is complementary to, the offline networking we must engage in as emerging scholars: the conferences, the informal chats, the university parties, and so on. Given that we at the International Communication Association are such a dispersed group, with (literally) far-flung interests and inspirations, it makes sense to actively manage our online presence on these professional networking sites, both to forge links with influential others and to reflect on how those links help us define ourselves.