3 Ways LinkedIn Times Are AChangin

3 Ways LinkedIn Times Are AChangin Vinyl is making a comeback, 40 is the new 30, and snail mail often makes a bigger impression than email. Indeed, as years go by, a lot of things are changing. And a lot of things are moving â€Å"backward† as they move forward. I’ve been hyper-aware of this phenomenon lately. But I have also been fascinated by how new technologies are replacing, or supplementing, the way things have been done in the past. I thought I’d share with you some of the interesting shifts happening in this regard in the world of LinkedIn. 1. Your LinkedIn profile is being used to evaluate your credit risk! Loan qualification isn’t just about credit scores anymore. Lenders now consult social media to gain a more comprehensive picture of loan applicants before shelling out dough. Lending Club and Prosper are two companies who use the information you share online (Facebook and LinkedIn updates, tweets, and blog posts) to evaluate your application. And DRB Student Loan has built a proprietary model that parses metadata from social media channels to build a reliability score that can supplement your FICO. If you as a borrower can show on social media that you are hard-working, dependable, and likely to honor financial commitments, perhaps you will pass the character test for getting a loan. See Could Your LinkedIn Profile Be Your New Credit Score? 2. LinkedIn could be the new U.S. News and World Report. For 30 years (and for as long as I can remember), U.S. News World Report has been the go-to publication for college rankings. I was not able to determine from Google research when they began publishing graduate school rankings as well, but I know that my first step in determining top schools has always been U.S. News World Report.Then, in early 2015, LinkedIn introduced its University Rankings and Graduate School Rankings based on how many successful professionals in various fields attended each university. This is a very limited criterion compared with the complex algorithm used by U.S. News World Report. However it could be quite useful! Here’s a sample of what you’ll find if you want to know the best schools to attend to be an accounting professional: 3. About.me is competing with LinkedIn for college students’ attention. As LinkedIn becomes more powerful, some platforms are going after its gaps and filling them. About.me, a personal homepage website, is launching a new Campus section that aims to help college students shine even if they don’t have enough work experience to create a robust LinkedIn profile. On about.me, a â€Å"Campus Faves† program has been created where students will be able to nominate themselves to be one of 15-20 students who are featured each week. Students can also be nominated by a professor or by their college’s career services department. If being chosen as a Campus Fave becomes a known indicator of extraordinary leadership qualities, then the status of being a Fave could make a difference in a student’s attractiveness as a job seeker! About.me will also be making strides in the area of matching students with internships. Important note: About.me will in no way replace LinkedIn, and in fact every about.me profile has a link available to the person’s LinkedIn profile. Have you noticed other surprising places where LinkedIn is becoming influential, or where other platforms are encroaching on what has seemed to be LinkedIn’s territory? Will LinkedIn buy about.me? What do you think? Please share your thoughts below! 🙂 Log in to Reply