Wallace (2016) sees the Internet as a “collection of distinct neighbourhoods where people with common interests and goals…” can interact and share information. I feel that a LinkedIn profile offers an individual access to a ‘neighbourhood’, within which they can showcase their service offering (themselves) and are encouraged to connect with others (recruiters/hiring managers) who can help them to realise their aspirations and goals with respect to employment. 

Acknowledging that other sites can facilitate relationships both romantic and platonic, I believe that no other platform rival’s LinkedIn’s potential to change one’s professional life or future direction more. These social and professional media platforms are a testament to the powerful force the internet has become and its ability to trigger life-changing opportunity, which goes beyond the virtual and enters our reality.   

 

LinkedIn.com, (2017). About us/Mission. 

Available at: https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin

Accessed 17 December 2017

 

Wallace, Patricia, (2016). The Psychology of the Internet. Second Edn., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The author has chosen to critically analysis the arbitration section of the ecommerce website "Adverts.ie". "Adverts.ie, is a community based market place where individuals can buy or sell items online". Adverts.ie, (2006). 

Whilst considering interactions carried out electronically on a preferred platform you would expect a certain level of netiquette to exist similar to a transaction taking place face to face. 

Negative feedback was submitted post transaction as a result of one party being unsatisfied. The complaint was referred to the customer support team who acted as the Leviathan Authority. With over 1000,000 registered users the marketplace community can be compared to the "Commonwealth" as defined by Hobbes et al (2016). The fundamental structure and process of arbitration used is rudimentary but effective.

Common ground was achieved utilising two grounding constraints as outlined by Clark and Browne (1991). Reviewing and revising communication through the intermediary resolved the issue and created a positive user experience for both parties. 

 

References

Adverts.ie, https://www.techireland.org/companies/adverts-ie

Wallace, P. (2016). The Psychology of the Internet. 2nd Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hobbes, Thomas., Rogers, G.A.J. and Schuhmann, Karl. (2006) Leviathan. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum.

Clark, H.H. and Brennan, S.E. (1991) Grounding in communication. In Resnick, L.B., Levine, J., and Teasley, S.D. (Eds.), Perceptions on socially shared cognition. American Psychological Association.

In an interview, the actor Glenn Close recently commented on US-President Donald Trump’s Twitter habits: “Social networks are now like our nervous system, and if you keep pumping that kind of crap into the nervous system, it is going to have an effect on a population” (The Guardian). While Close might not be an expert on Social Networks, the author believes she is accurately describing, possible effects of social media consumption. 

Telling stories and responding with other stories is a social practice that contributes to creating identity (DCU p.3). But storytelling on Instagram consists of heavily edited and filtered pictures and at best short captions. Its reality is almost virtual. “Virtual reality is not "real," but it has a relationship to the real. It becomes a play space for thinking about the real world.” (Turkle 1995). This is what Instagram is to the author: a play space for creating an idealised and unachievable identity. How is that social?

 

References

 

Jeffs L. (2017) “You lose power if you get angry”, Interview with Glenn Close. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/16/glenn-close-harvey-weinstein-mental-illness-cult-fatal-attraction [retrieved 19th December 2017].

Turkle S. (1995) Constructions and Reconstructions of Self in Virtual Reality: Playing in the MUDs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Available at: http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/constructions.html [retrieved 19th December 2017]

Dublin City University, Working Paper OSC1 Section 3: Social Context (2017) Unit 6- Internet, Self, and Experience in Everyday Life, p. 3, Dublin City University 

Arruda, W., 2014. The 5 most important LinkedIn features you aren't using correctly. [Online] 
 Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2014/08/19/the-5-most-important-linkedin-features-you-arent-using-correctly/
 [Accessed 19 December 2017].

Beck, M., 2015. LinkedIn is making all LinkedIn Groups private starting Oct. 14. [Online] 
 Available at: https://marketingland.com/linkedin-is-making-all-linkedin-groups-private-starting-oct-14-145530
 [Accessed 19 December 2017].

Brown, J. S. & Duguid, P., 2000. The social life of information. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.

Donovan, L., 2015. Why the new LinkedIn Group changes are a Community Manager’s worst nightmare. [Online] 
 Available at: https://marketingland.com/why-the-new-linkedin-group-changes-are-a-community-managers-worst-nightmare-150048
 [Accessed 19 December 2017].

Kapko, M., 2015. 3 things we hate about LinkedIn Groups. [Online] 
 Available at: https://www.cio.com/article/2913779/linkedin/3-things-we-hate-about-linkedin-groups.html
 [Accessed 19 December 2017].