21% of College Students Use LinkedIn
Virtually everyone who has anything to do with today's college students and recent graduates knows that the vast majority of them use Facebook. A recent study by eROI provides proof of that:
The numbers in the study understate the percentage of students who have Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn accounts but eROI measured what percentage actively use those accounts.
I was very pleased to see that 21 percent of college students are using LinkedIn. Based upon my conversations with students, I inferred that the percentage was well below 10 percent and perhaps below five percent. Recruiters may feel that 21 percent is a small percentage because such a high percentage of recruiters use LinkedIn, but the vast majority of college students are not planning to become recruiters. A more accurate comparison would be what percentage of the college educated workforce is actively using LinkedIn? I bet that percentage is far below 21 percent.
LinkedIn is a wonderful networking tool but like all others you get out of it what you put in. If you put no effort in, you'll get little to nothing out of it.
Tip of the Hat: Art Koff at RetiredBrains.com for bringing this study to my attention.
I think that most college students feel like they don't need to do "professional social networking" until out of college. In today's job environment, I think that's a big mistake.