LinkedIn gets down with the kids with University pages
20 August 2013
LinkedIn will be available to children aged 13 and up from next month as the professional social network looks to make strides into the labour market of the future with its new University pages.
Tue, 20 May 2013LinkedIn will be available to children aged 13 and up from next month as the professional social network looks to make strides into the labour market of the future with its new University pages.
The announcement of the University offering was made yesterday on the company’s blog, with director of product management Christina Allen describing it as “one cornerstone of our strategy to help students at every critical milestone from campus to fulfilling, successful careers”.
The news comes sandwiched between UK students receiving A-Level results last week and GCSE results on Thursday this week (22 August), with recruiter.co.uk reporting that in the age of austerity – not to mention higher tuition fees – parents are increasingly pointing their offspring in the direction of work over university.
Updated terms of service mean that from 12 September, the minimum age needed to set up a LinkedIn account in the UK drops from 18 to 13. This restriction is the same across the vast majority of countries around the world, with the exceptions of the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, South Korea and Spain where is it 14, plus the Netherlands (16) and China (18).
Allen writes that LinkedIn University pages should be “especially valuable for students making their first, big decision about where to attend college”.
But there is also a significant emphasis placed on their ability to guide young people’s career thoughts and aspirations and “greatly expand their understanding of the careers available, and get a head start on building a network of family and friends to help guide them at every milestone”.
A spokesperson for LinkedIn tells recruiter.co.uk that both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford are the most prominent UK universities among 200 globally that had a live page since yesterday’s launch, with the network expecting to see “thousands more coming online in the coming weeks”.
The spokesperson adds that the pages are “open to any type of institution”, with no particular push towards specific types of university or establishment.
The website of the Wall Street Journal notes in a tech blog post: “LinkedIn's move isn't expected to immediately boost profits, but it could ensure young users stay on the site and eventually purchase premium features, while giving recruiters more reason to buy services. The effort also raises new challenges, such as offering greater privacy protections for younger users.”
Ruminating on the various implications of the new development, tech and digital news website Digital Trends writes: “One near certainty? Young, driven users will be ready to hit up their schools’ alumni for advice or connections. Prepare yourselves for the onslaught of advice-seeking suck ups who want an in (and then get off your high horse and remember how desperate we all were for jobs when graduation and loan repayments were looming).”
See below for LinkedIn’s fast-talking, whistlestop video tour of its new initiative: ‘LinkedIn for Students: Your Career Starts Here’:
The announcement of the University offering was made yesterday on the company’s blog, with director of product management Christina Allen describing it as “one cornerstone of our strategy to help students at every critical milestone from campus to fulfilling, successful careers”.
The news comes sandwiched between UK students receiving A-Level results last week and GCSE results on Thursday this week (22 August), with recruiter.co.uk reporting that in the age of austerity – not to mention higher tuition fees – parents are increasingly pointing their offspring in the direction of work over university.
Updated terms of service mean that from 12 September, the minimum age needed to set up a LinkedIn account in the UK drops from 18 to 13. This restriction is the same across the vast majority of countries around the world, with the exceptions of the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, South Korea and Spain where is it 14, plus the Netherlands (16) and China (18).
Allen writes that LinkedIn University pages should be “especially valuable for students making their first, big decision about where to attend college”.
But there is also a significant emphasis placed on their ability to guide young people’s career thoughts and aspirations and “greatly expand their understanding of the careers available, and get a head start on building a network of family and friends to help guide them at every milestone”.
A spokesperson for LinkedIn tells recruiter.co.uk that both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford are the most prominent UK universities among 200 globally that had a live page since yesterday’s launch, with the network expecting to see “thousands more coming online in the coming weeks”.
The spokesperson adds that the pages are “open to any type of institution”, with no particular push towards specific types of university or establishment.
The website of the Wall Street Journal notes in a tech blog post: “LinkedIn's move isn't expected to immediately boost profits, but it could ensure young users stay on the site and eventually purchase premium features, while giving recruiters more reason to buy services. The effort also raises new challenges, such as offering greater privacy protections for younger users.”
Ruminating on the various implications of the new development, tech and digital news website Digital Trends writes: “One near certainty? Young, driven users will be ready to hit up their schools’ alumni for advice or connections. Prepare yourselves for the onslaught of advice-seeking suck ups who want an in (and then get off your high horse and remember how desperate we all were for jobs when graduation and loan repayments were looming).”
See below for LinkedIn’s fast-talking, whistlestop video tour of its new initiative: ‘LinkedIn for Students: Your Career Starts Here’:
