How much and why do project managers use LinkedIn?

1. The ‘LinkedIn effect¹’:
A new way of learning?
Focus on project management
communities
Prepared for Open
University module H818 by
Louise Worsley¹The Linked in effect’, Forbes, 2014
Part 2: PMs on LinkedIn: What
are they using it for?

2. What’s this about?
How are social networks such as
LinkedIn being used to enhance and
extend learning?
Part 2:
How much and why do project managers
use LinkedIn?

3. Seeking input from
Part 1: Unstructured feedback LinkedIn groups
(Nov – 10 responses)
Part 2: Survey posted to PM groups (Jan /33
responses)
Part 3: Analysis of selected
group discussions (3 from 10
groups)
This presentation
looks at results
from here

4. Are PMs using social networks?
Given this survey was made available
on LinkedIn it should not be
surprising that LinkedIn will feature
most highly
Yammer, Ello,
about.me, SAP Jam
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Other
PM usage of social networks
(at least once per week)
Just under half of
those surveyed (48%)
use LinkedIn daily
“48% of LinkedIn users spending more than 2
hours a week on LinkedIn”, Forbes, 2014

5. Are PMs using social networks?
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Other
PM usage of social networks
Use regularly
Use rarely
Is one social network enough?
Three quarters of
LinkedIn users rarely
used Twitter or
Facebook

6. People who use social networks,
use social networks
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
LinkedIn plus another SN
LinkedIn only
LinkedIn plus Google+
LinkedIn plus Twitter
LinkedIn plus Facebook
Weekly usage of multiple SNs
Of which 27% (15% of
total survey group) use
3 or more SNs every
week
“ I use Facebook for
social networking,
business contacts
who have become
friends would be
included here.”
Over 50% use more than one social
network weekly

7. Not familiar with LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service.
Launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional
networking. As of May 2013, LinkedIn reports more than 300
million users in more than 200 countries and territories.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2014/05/04/new-research-2014-linkedin-user-
trends-and-10-top-surprises/
Aside from providing functions to maintain and grow contacts,
LinkedIn provides community groups (public and private)
which allow members to interact within open and closed
communities. According to Quora there are now just under
1.9M groups on LinkedIn
Source: http://www.quora.com/How-many-groups-are-there-on-LinkedIn

8. Level of engagement (LinkedIn)
21%
55%
24%
Post a message
Every week Occasionally Never
19%
66%
15%
Respond to a message
Every week Occasionally Never
While 85% use
LinkedIn every week,
only 20% are posting
or responding to
posts every week.
More likely to
respond than post
messages

9. So why use LinkedIn?
Mixed views: Mainly its about
relationships…but
40% reported “Seeking
information on practices
in other groups” as very
helpful
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Maintaining/growing professional
relationships
Creating professional relationships
Seeking information on practices in
other groups
Promoting myself
Seeking answers to specific work-
related questions
Promoting my work/company
LinkedIn: What I find helpful

10. Indications so far
• Project managers on LinkedIn do use it
regularly (at least once per week)
• They are often using more than one
social network weekly
• While building relationships is seen as
the main value, a good proportion
also get value from sharing practices
• That said, this is often a passive
process, as only 20% are posting or
responding to messages.

11. Next steps...
• How are discussion conducted on
project manager community groups?
What evidence do we see of learning
and sharing of knowledge?