The effects of technology on the business environment can never be over emphasized. In the 21st century, the growth of business corporations has been built on the every phase of technological development. These technological advancements have succinctly led to the new generation of business era that has come to be known as the E-business era. Thus, it is the series of evolution of the leveraging on technological research and advancements that has led to the use of social networking in advancing business transactions across the globe to boost corporations access to information and harnessing the human factor of the business. The proper harnessing of these important factors of business consequently helps to increase organizational effectiveness and efficiency, thus leading to higher profit and increase in revenue generation. Social networking is synonymous with e-commerce and e-business and can therefore be defined as a form of e-business. E-business is the process which uses Internet technology to simplify certain company processes, improve productivity and increase efficiency. Social networking has become as popular as the telephone, email, and Internet. It has also proven to be an effective recruiting and marketing tool. Social media has come a long way. From Facebook to Myspace to Twitter, there is a forum for just about everyone. Social media is not just a way to communicate with friends and loved ones but has become a way of networking and marketing.

The interdependence in society coupled with the effects of globalization makes it imperative to consider the interests of all the stakeholders of an organization when taking an organizational decision. A ‘stakeholder’ is someone who has a vested interest, financial, social or otherwise in an action or organization. Some of the important stakeholders of our university are – the students, the faculty, the administration and the university itself. Engaging with stakeholders from the start enables a proactive cultivation of relationships. The use of social media and social networking is useful not only for career advancement of students and recent graduates but benefits each of the stakeholders.

LinkedIn is a professionally focused social networking service that connects business professionals with their colleagues, clients and others. It is a place for people of similar and different backgrounds to connect, problem solve and find employment. It also serves as a fantastic forum for making new connections.

How LinkedIn benefits all the stakeholders?

Administration and HR

We can promote the university brand:

* We can create a detailed LinkedIn profile for your company, which can be helpful in establishing a brand, as well as for online brand awareness in general.

It is target-rich:

* LinkedIn can be used to identify potential employees, employers, or even the best people to invite to a forthcoming event.
* You can search for and connect with people in a specific position within a company in the industry that you are interested in.
* With all the media attention that social networking is gaining and the current state of the economy, candidates for your positions will surely be looking for new ways to reach out to potential employers.

We can use LinkedIn to run alumni programmes:

* They allow current and former employees to keep in touch with each other.
* Such programmes can create a sense of community, improve our university brand and encourage old employees to keep you in mind when business opportunities come along.

It is cost effective:

* Creating an account or group on LinkedIn is free and straightforward. Not only do the sites have low or no cost, but your candidates are already there.

Students


It provides great networking capability which can immensely help in your job search

* LinkedIn is a business networking powerhouse. The number of people using it is staggering. Executives from all FTSE 350 and Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.
* It allows you to connect with people. It can search through your profile details, and find possible contacts that went to University with you, or worked at the same company as you.
* You can search to find people you would like to be connected with.
* LinkedIn allows you to see who your contacts are connected to, and to ask them to provide a warm introduction to interesting prospects on their connection lists. This increases your networking capability exponentially.

You can create a compelling profile and showcase your expertise

* A compelling profile page on LinkedIn helps you to stand out from the competition. You can craft your profile in such a way that when people read it, they are encouraged to get in touch.
* You can contribute to the Answers section of LinkedIn, where you can demonstrate your expertise by providing answers to questions

Faculty

You can offer thought leadership:

* LinkedIn’s many discussion Groups are perfect for demonstrating knowledge and offering insights into academic world of research.
* You can initiate discussions, giving your thoughts on areas of interest to you. Members often forward thoughtful comments onto their connections, ‘virally’ raising the profile of the contributor. You share your academic papers, blogs and other resources.

Market / Academic research:

* LinkedIn has many discussion Groups on a wide variety of subjects that you can apply to join. These Groups are a great way of connecting with other professionals in your area of work, and discussing issues and trends.

Conclusion

Social media will definitely become intrinsically linked to our university brand, our faculty profile and our recruitment strategy. It will benefit the students, the faculty and the university administration. This means we need to up level our knowledge of using social networks and technology tools to establish and polish our university brand.