Journalists who participate more actively on LinkedIn have more positive attitudes toward the network.

Newswise studied how journalists use LinkedIn by quantitatively assessing journalists' participation and measuring the relationship of their participation to their attitudes about the social networking site.

Most journalists' attitude toward LinkedIn is not very positive and appears to reflect that they experienced low value from the service, an earlier Newswise study found.

Some journalists report a more favorable experience, which correlates to their more active participation. Newswise used three key parameters to measure a journalist's level of participation on LinkedIn:

• completeness of individual profile page• number of connections• number of group memberships

Newswise correlated the data for each parameter with attitudes toward both LinkedIn and social media in general. Higher levels of participation in these three areas all correlated positively with attitude toward social media and LinkedIn, indicating that engagement and attitude go hand-in-hand.

“LinkedIn provides a unique professional opportunity for journalists,” said Roger S. Johnson, Newswise Founder. “First, this is the place to find and be found by professionals with whom journalists need to network. Second, it enhances professional networking by providing transparency in profiles; it is easier to evaluate the credibility of profiles on LinkedIn and conversely more difficult for fraudulent profiles to go undetected. Third, LinkedIn groups provide opportunity for collaboration and building community, which is more important now because of the ongoing and rapid changes in the journalism ecosystem.”

Newswise concludes that the major value from LinkedIn comes from participating in groups, which requires a larger investment of time. Just completing a profile and connecting on LinkedIn provide very little return, which may discourage further participation. Groups establish unique opportunities for networking and community. In order to appreciate the full value of LinkedIn, Newswise encourages journalists not only to join but actively participate in discussions and collaboration. Newswise predicts that when journalists realize the value of participating in LinkedIn groups, attitudes about the professional networking site will improve.

Newswise created the first online news service for journalists in 1992 and has been continuously providing credible research news since then. Newswise has created the best system for delivering news to journalists because it is based on a purely opt-in relationship and high-quality content. They choose the information they want, when they want it, and how it is delivered.