Journalists use LinkedIn, but wonder why

Journalists use LinkedIn, according to a recent study, but most don't know why. "Where things become fuzzy is show often they use it, for what purposes, and how effective a tool it is," writes Kevin Allen. "Seven out of 10 journalists investigated in the Newswise study had user profiles on LinkedIn, and 42 percent of them responded to requests to connect via the social networking site," reported Newswise, a company that surveyed 1,000 journalist subscribers to its tipsheet. "A significant number of respondents had difficulty with the fundamental process of connecting with others on the site. "Only 1 in 4 respondents expressed an opinion about the value of social networking in general, with 13 percent finding value, and 12 percent finding none," the report continued. "The remaining 75 percent were undecided or neutral. In other words, 88 percent of LinkedIn users had found value or were neutral about the value of social networking."