10 reasons why to join Musicology Research group on Linkedin

I have recently opened the Musicology Research group on the social site Linkedin. This group includes professional musicologists (at the moment there are 118 member to the group and it is growing every week) that wish to alert each other about job and other work opportunities. One can also use this group in order to ask advice concerning publication, research, jobs and any other issue that is related to the lives and deaths of musicologists. In this post I will explain why joining this group can help you. I will mention why this group is much better than any other format such as the AMS-list and Google of Yahoo groups with similar aims.

 

First I would like to say a few words about Linkedin. This social site has over 41 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. The aim of this site is to help you work on relationships that can progress your career. This is what Linkedin describes as its aim:

 

“Your professional network of trusted contacts gives you an advantage in your career, and is one of your most valuable assets. Linkedin exists to help you make better use of your professional network and help the people you trust in return.
Our mission is to connect the world’s professionals to accelerate their success. We believe that in a global connected economy, your success as a professional and your competitiveness as a company depends upon faster access to insight and resources you can trust.” You can read more about the advantages of Linkedin here.

 

1. While other musicological groups such as the AMS-list and various Yahoo and Google group give you the possibility to receive updates and send emails to other people, in Linkedin you can actually see the profiles of the group members.

 

2. Linkedin grants you the possibility to make your professional online profile that shows what you do and did and work.

 

3. When you are member of groups such as Musicology Research, you can invite members to join your own network. These people will be updated on your current status at work, what you are doing at the moment, and you can ask them professional questions that puzzle you.  

 

4. The people who join your network have similar benefits. They can update you (and other people on their network) with things that concern them and their career.

 

5. The Discussions section of the group contains information about conferences and other related issues. People who arrange conferences actively update this section and you are notified (once a day or one a week – as you request) on a regular basis.

 

6. The New section is updated by the members who can add links to related articles and blog that are on the web.

 

7. The News sections receives automatic updates from RSS feeds such as the AMS Yahoo group that includes announcements on musicology jobs, conferences and other related issues. If you have a blog or you stumbled upon an article on the web that might be interesting for other people in the group, you can notify them by submitting it to the group. In other words, members have more control and interaction on the musicology community.

 

8. The News section also receives automatic updates by Google News. These updates are various articles and web pages that have recently appeared on the web. Currently the updates are focused on Google News search on the keywords “musicology jobs” and “musicology research”. In order to see the links of Google News press the link “Latest News”.

 

9. It is good to a have a profile on Linkedin. Seomoz says that “a membership and presence at the site commands the most respect of all the popular networking opportunities available to you online.”

 

10. Linkedin grants you almost endless possibilities for networking, finding employment and hiring opportunities, using an Answers Service and joining various groups.