Discourse Analysis 3: LinkedIn

Group Members: Jonathan Even, Isabella Menendez, Jacie Mazmanian, Sabrina Kurth
This website will include Part Three and Four of the group project concerning social media platforms, the entirety of the assignment will be shared through a hyperlink between the four different websites.

Part Three: Questions for Testimonials

How long have you been using this app?
What initially was the reason for you downloading this app?
How often do you log on and use the app?
Do you find that you have had more success with jobs and connections using this app?
What do you like most about the app? What is something that you could critique about the app?
There is this idea called bonding that occurs on social media platforms. It occurs through things like sharing stories about personal life and struggles via social media. This creates a community of like-minded people that have similar morals. Do you believe that this idea is occurring on social media generally speaking? How has this impacted your ability for job searching and success personally? Do you think that this can create a problem on social media if it goes too far?

Participant 1

Since they began their job search, so almost 1 year ago from 2022
Their field has a very specific quality that is not as usual and common as a day-to-day job search, so they opted for the social media platform (LinkedIn) because they felt more at ease with a more modern, but still tangible application.
Any time there is a notification of a work opportunity or if there is a new way to improve their profile.
Yes, this goes mainly for the connection part of the question, for they were scared that LinkedIn, being a social media platform, would be too distant for a professional and close relationship with both coworkers and/or their supervisor.
The subsections of the app are what drew the interviewee to the social media platform, they can personally look for a specific job with their own specifications about the information of position, the choice of being remote or in person, and many other categories. The negative aspect they found by using this app was the broad information that would be thrown to them would be distracting and sometimes misleading for what the true job application would require.
Having to deal with the modern world and things never staying as they are, the interviewee stated how they had to adapt to social media and the relationships that grew through technology

Participant 2

Since they were encouraged at University, 6 years ago from 2022.
They were encouraged in University as it would be a more successful way to achieve their ideal job opportunity and later on position.
Every day as their job is partially linked to the social media platform, LinkedIn, and have to respond and notify to their coworkers the new occurrences of the day.
They have been employed through the app and are quite comfortable in their position, so they connect their great success not only to social media but the relationships that they tied through LinkedIn.
As said above they enjoyed the relationships that grew through the app, but differently from the first participant of the project, the interviewee couldn't grasp entirely the presence of social media in their specific position, as they were used to a more in-person connection rather than an online one.
Like the answer to the 5th question, social media is a new horizon for them and as of today they still are managing to cooperate with the technological world and its many subgenres that branch into the social ability of bonding.

Part Four: Conclusion

As we know previous to LinkedIn the way to make connections and gather jobs was through the newspaper and the Yellowbook, now we have social media apps like LinkedIn. This app allows us to ultimately connect with one another faster and with more information as well as attempt to refrain from bias. With regards to our testimonials on parts two and three, we are able to conclude that the majority of people use LinkedIn to build themselves a professional resume. We learned that they went about using this app for two reasons, one being that their higher education required them to. Secondly, they heard that is what you are supposed to do if you want to get a job. This note is important because it shows how we communicate in our culture now in regard to getting a job in society and how we present our professional selves to society.

Many times testimonials prefer job searching and pairing their own qualifications and skills with LinkedIn because they deem it easier and more efficient. The role LinkedIn has on the user is to incorporate and manage the outlines of every job opportunity so that the workplace has a common platform to search and find contenders, who are both able to communicate thoroughly and handle any task for the respective job on a social level. Most interviewees stated that they enjoyed the multimodal app and the diverse ability to present yourself in many different ways on it. There are some critiques of the app. One issue that was brought up often was the issue with LinkedIn premium. There was a general consensus that premium prevents the users from being able to fully use the app to its fullest potential. It can prevent job opportunities and missed connections that could be critical for their future professional endeavors. The culture in today’s society is to “hustle” when it comes to success in the workplace. Most liked the efficiency of LinkedIn and the ability to “hustle” on the platform but they believe that in-person is much more valuable. We can understand that the necessity of apps like LinkedIn is due to the societal pressure put on getting a successful job out of college. The obsession over social media in regards to LinkedIn was looked at in a way that you need to be in control of your obsession with media in general. The interviewees stated that you should be able to have enough self-control to make sure you are using the app appropriately and intentionally. Overall, most users log in almost daily, enjoy using the app and use the app with purpose.