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Back in the late 90s to early 2000s the internet and its artefacts were still in its nascency. Back then the overall impression of the world wide web was filled with intrigue, not fatigue. Back then we waited in agony to download music off illicit websites certain to willingly lace our PCs with the nastiest of viruses; while we prayed on bended knees to any-and-every deity that our dial-up connections survive the errant phone call from nosy-nobodies.

With the turn of the century came a slew of social media sites: Myspace, Hi5, Bebo, Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and the likes. They promised a new world, where long-lost high-school friends could connect with each other across continents. Where your friends and you could find solace in sharing every bit of your life with each other. Where everyone was truly connected to each other, and perhaps happier for it? Such was the allure of social media that even primarily image and video based platforms such as YouTube and Instagram eventually bent over backwards to integrate its features within their platforms.

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As I see it, such sites providing a human connect heralded the era of hyper-socialisation in the digital realm. Finally, those who had long dreamt of harnessing the power of the internet to turn the world into a global village had found their wildest dreams come true. But in hindsight, those were the very hands that creaked open Pandoras box.

Many foresaw the internet boom back then, but no one could have predicted just how ominously omnipresent the digital landscape would become in our day-to-day lives. Nearly 20 years later, we are glued to our mobiles, tablets and laptops. Inseparable from our online avatars. Our devices, just a step away from becoming full-fledged organic appendages. Instant gratification has become the name of the game.

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Much has been said and written about our constant interconnectedness brought about by the online world. Weve come a long way since the halcyon days of sporadic emails, clunky chat messengers, cringe-inducing online avatars and noisy dial-up modems. Were all living our virtual lives in the digital autobahn baby, all without any of the necessary safety measures. What started off as a seemingly innocuous endeavour in global interconnectedness has now become a worryingly vital part of daily life, for many if not all.

There are several reports and research documenting the detrimental impact of social media on our mental health. This one states, Intense use of SNS (Social Networking Sites) including using those in odd hours were found to be significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Another one claims prolonged social media use has been linked to biological and psychological indicators associated with poor physical health.

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While the allure of being constantly online is hard to resist, theres potentially something far more sinister pulling at our strings, like a ventriloquist beneath the hood of our favourite sites. Natasha Schll the author of Addiction by Design claims that several social media sites use methods similar to the gambling industry to keep users on their sites, she adds, In the online economy, revenue is a function of continuous consumer attention which is measured in clicks and time spent. So, dont be too hard on yourself if you find yourself obsessively swiping through an endless rabbit hole of reels, memes and photo dumps. Some of it is by design.

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However, this level of connectivity comes at a steep price. The incessant notifications and perpetual distractions can leave us feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from our immediate surroundings. Not only that, but social networking sites can also present an illusion of perfection that is usually untrue, which in turn can breed a host of body image issues. Moreover, we can often find ourselves caught in a delicate dance between staying connected and yearning for a moment of respite. A futile jig, where neither is achieved in the end.

Experts suggest our time on social media and social networking sites be limited to just 30 minutes. But you and I know that our numbers make for a far poorer reading than that. In my case, my phone usage from a couple of weeks ago shows I spent nearly 3-5 hours online daily. Now, I can try and justify it by chalking it off as a career hazard, but that would just be avoiding the alarmingly-sized elephant in the room: Im chronically online and something needs to be done about it.

From the moment my day begins, till I retire for the day, my mind is hooked on to a world that isnt tethered to the real realm. Beyond research and reports, personally, I find myself increasingly distracted, irritable and exhausted on days when I had to wade through the murky waters of social media. Much to the chagrin of my IRL (in real life) people, who for no fault of their own, found themselves interacting with a husk of a person.

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Now, before anyone comes to the conclusion that Im some doomsayer of social media, let me clarify that it is a powerful tool, especially when used for good. A pivotal scene from Jude Anthany Josephs recently released film 2018 recreates a real life instance of the brilliance of social media quite powerfully. During the 2018 Kerala Floods, the government found themselves critically short-staffed to handle a disaster of such magnitude. Lets not forget that it was the worst flood in the states history in nearly a century. Cue, enthusiastic Malayali youngsters who created WhatsApp groups to recruit volunteers for the relief and rescue efforts.

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Naturally, there was a deluge of fake news too, but these WhatsApp groups effectively transformed into mobile control rooms wherein volunteers tried their best to screen out any tips received, before passing on information that was accurate and relevant. Most importantly, rescuers received help from thousands of youngsters at a time when official communications were overwhelmed thanks to the accessibility of WhatsApp and social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

During the Covid19 pandemic, sites like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook became hotspots for virtual gatherings at a time of social distancing. Clubhouse was another app which took off during the lockdown, as it helped thousands, if not millions, of isolated people to interact with other humans.

Missing persons have also been found through the power of social media. Aside from that, these platforms are a great tool to explore ones creative senses, champion activism and even find love (if youre into that). So its not all doom and gloom in the digital realm. So, how do we strike a perfect balance?

At a time when everyone is online, moving offline feels like a privilege, if not an act of rebellion. Due to its overwhelming presence in all factors of life, taking your attention offline often can also seem like a deliberate attempt to move against the grain. But so be it, if thats what it takes to take care of oneself.

I wouldnt call myself a chronically online person, says Ishaan*, a practising lawyer, however, things changed after the pandemic where I had nothing to do but be online, even courtrooms had shifted online. He adds, I dont know (when it began), but I remember getting into constant arguments online, at the slightest hint of a trigger.

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I found myself becoming hypersensitive in real life too. Picking fights and getting into unwarranted arguments. I think thats when I decided to take stock of the impact my digital life was having on my real life he concludes.

Ishaan is one of many who have begun to re-negotiate their relationship with social media. And as expected, like any other addiction, it hasnt been an easy path. It took him several months and numerous ups and downs, to gain some control over his online activities. However, he feels it's all for the better, as he finds himself less irate and more present in the moment. Something that had been a fever dream for him for several years.

Beyond the digital landscape, it is crucial to find anchors in our actual physical world, especially for people of the generation that was raised by the internet. Finding a sense of community, fresh hobbies and a digital detox, are among several suggestions prescribed online (the irony isnt lost on me).

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As for me, I tried a digital detox last year wherein I deleted all social media apps off my phone for 3 months. I had the bright idea of going cold turkey and not too long after I began noticing the physical manifestations of my chronic online behaviour. Like a forlorn lover, my sorry thumbs twiddled away in search of apps that had long been binned. I found the intensity of these physical sensations ceased (though not entirely) after a couple of weeks, during which I took to old hobbies and interests like writing songs and working out. The biggest realisation from the detox was actually finding control of those phantasmal hours that were lost to endless doom scrolling.

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Funnily, after 3 months I reinstalled the apps for work. And no sooner, I returned to my previously wired-self once again. I managed to be mindful of my usage for a grand total of 10 days, after which I was back among my old habits.

For better or for worse, this chronically online world is our fait accompli. And were in for a bumpy ride.

*name changed due to privacy reasons.

Excerpt from:
Beyond The Likes A Struggle To Rediscover Real Life, Away From The Online Hive - MensXP.com

While garnering social capital has always been essential to internal corporate collaboration, it has become even more critical for every hybrid employee, remote-working person, or solo entrepreneur today. Simply having the skills to do a particular job is no longer sufficient because our hybrid offices have made many people invisible. Your ability to partner with team members, make an impression, network in your industry, and stay ripe for opportunities depends on the strength of your professional relationships and communication skills.

Just like any other currency, social capital can be earned, invested, and spent. When it comes to your professional longevity, there is no greater fortune than your worth in social capital. So how much do you have in your bank?

Earning social capital is dependent on our ability to work together effectively by having a shared set of values and working toward a common goal. In a corporate environment, it makes employees more collaborative, but for remote employees, solo entrepreneurs, or members of the gig economy, it is non-negotiable to success. Couple that with the challenges of a hybrid or remote work environment, and it is the difference between being considered for an opportunity, ruled out, or completely forgotten.

When I left my 17-year corporate career at a luxury brand to pursue consulting, I went from being a member of a large corporate office to working remotely and independently. Without my executive title and the credibility of being employed by a well-known retail group, I could only lean on myself when pursuing new business. My nearly two decades of accrued social capital bolstered my ability to have my calls returned and my emails responded to.

I understood the value of staying connected to my network and showing a genuine interest in their careers while sharing my future ambitions for consulting projects. I checked in on important contacts to inquire how they were and what they were working on during a time when I didnt need to ask for anything. I sought them out on social media to amplify and support their content shares and to keep my name top of mind. When it was time to pitch ideas or ask for favors, I wrote persuasive emails expressing my request and offering support in return. I valued peoples time and made sure to write succinctly and directly. I have always believed that being accessible makes you indispensable, so I stayed on top of my inbox to guarantee my responsive communication was swift. I knew being readily available for whatever came my way was vital. If my outreach met silence, I followed up again appropriately within a week.

Once I confirmed a project, I knew it was my job to communicate proactively. As a remote consultant, I needed tolet managementknow that I was abreast of my work while also making meaningful connections with the team I was working with.In addition, that ensured that I received up-to-the-minute information. When you are not physically present, it is easy for others to forget they need to communicate directives beyond their four walls. I needed to stay on peoples radars and demonstrate reliability. A good result with one client would naturally lead to a subsequent referral.

The same issues can also affect a corporate remote employee. When you dont have the luxury of proximity, its easy to get left behind and feel a sense of loneliness. Remote employees need to make a greater effort to actively participate in the company culture than people physically in the office. That means they, too, need to communicate proactively and sometimes overcommunicate, while also making a concerted effort to have virtual coffees with teammates.

Hybrid employees that straddle in-person and remote life typically have the bulk of the meeting loadcrammed into their in-office days. That requires them to balance their relationship-building efforts and focus on more than just the colleagues they physically see.

What makes one person accrue social capital versus another? It comes down to your principles, work ethic, and, sometimes, your ability to organize yourself.

If you have strong principles and a steadfast work ethic, you naturally want to do right by someone. You want to complete that task no matter what it takes because you committed to it, and not following through would hurt you as much as it would disappoint someone else. I believe your word should mean something. When you say youre going to do something, following through is tallied and judged on your professional scorecard. Even so, if youre working to improve your executive functioning (organizing, prioritizing, etc.) or your skills in managing yourself, drafting a to-do list might not be sufficient. Instead, consider making meetings with yourself to block the time for each task on your calendar. This can help you accomplish what you need to in the assigned timeframe and will support you in delivering on your word.

Despite the clear benefit in doing what you say you will, how many times has someone promised you that they would make an introduction for you but then ghosted? Can you count how often someone owed you something that was done incompletely or past a deadline? There are way too many instances to count. The risk of unfulfilled promises is that when you fail to deliver, you become labeled as someone who is unreliable.

Conversely, Im sure youcan easily name the people you know you can count on and who earn the covetable reputation of consistently being great to work with. You are confident these people can deliver whatever you ask of them well and on time. Because of this, you are likely to call on them repeatedly. You will think about these people even when they are not in the room. In doing so, they have earned social capital with you.

Unlike money, which can compound when left alone if appropriately invested, social capital can only be sustained with connection and relationship maintenance. A once-positive reputation can become negative if an effort is not made to sustain it. Take work references, for example. You cant assume someone who vouched for your work several years ago would go out on a limb for you today if you havent put in the effort to maintain that relationship. Social capital can expire, and if you are not careful, you might find yourself checking your bank account one day and discovering a zero balance.

Follow these five tips to make sure youre maintaining this positive regard in every relationship you navigate, especially when you are not face-to-face:

If you are on a team, raising your hand to support someone elses project or going beyond the scope of your role to help others will make you an invaluable and memorable colleague. It is how people establish a collaborative reputation and often get identified for internal mobility. If you have a goal to one day move into a different department of your organization, proactively doing this can yield powerful results.

For independent contractors, no one wants to work for less than they are worth or for free, and most people cannot afford to, but sometimes its strategic and acceptable to do so. For example, if you know that working with this client will add credibility and valuable experience to your business, and is likely to signal to other clients that you do good work, it might be worth it. Even so, this is not something you want to do as a regular practice. Always weigh the pros and cons.

Whenyou do something as a favor for someone when necessary, you have taken your first step in building social capital with that person. Furthermore, doing so, especially to gain experience in an area where you may need expertise, effectively fills that skillset void. Negotiating a testimonial as part of your fee is strategic and acceptable. It can build your credibility and be a valuable asset on your website or secure a referral in the future.

The most critical factor to success when youre behind a screen is ensuring your communication is written to inspire action. First, consider your timing. Whether youre sending a pitch, catching up on email, or sending updates on projects, make sure youre considering where your colleagues are. Just because you dont mind emailing after hours doesnt mean others do or can. Or perhaps you are in a different time zone. Send or schedule your emails to be delivered within your shared working hours to increase your odds of real-time response.

Second, your words need to connect with the reader. That begins with understanding who you are addressing. Often, people forget to consider their audience. They focus on what they want to say and ignore who is on the other side. Do some research to understand the recipients experience or point of view. If you are pitching an idea, it is always beneficial to understand what has been done before and what they might be looking for.

When setting expectations, make sure your words are backed by action. Accurately assess your capabilities and deliver on that. Or better yet, exceed expectations. Make your words mean something.

As your career progresses, keeping track of your network inside and outside the company becomes increasingly complex, primarily if you work remotely. While it may take slightly more effort, maintaining a spreadsheet of your networking interactions and referrals will be tremendously valuable. Not only will this assist you in relationship management; it will support you in connecting the dots between people. For example, if an introduction from a friend resulted in a new client, you will want to remember who to thank in the future. It will also help you monitor when it is time to follow up with people.

Inbox zero is a lofty goal for many, but managing all your forms of communication will allow you to take advantage of every opportunity. Utilize tools like inbox labels and filters to help organize yourself. Being a speedy responder shows people you are efficient and reliable. In a world inundated with messaging coming from every direction, being quick to respond is a superpower and is valued dearly. If colleagues know you are accessible, you will become someone known as good to work with.While everyone needs work-life balance, quickly scrolling through your emails after hours just to ensure nothing critical came in could mean the difference between putting out a fire or jumping on an opportunity. This is especially important if you work with people across time zones.

If youre difficult to get in touch with, the opposite holds. You may become labeled as someone who cannot be depended on and may be passed over for opportunities. Its best practice to ensure that people are responded to within a reasonable amount of time (ideally no longer than two business days). Even if you dont have the answer yet, letting someone know that youre working on it will give them peace of mind that their email was in fact received. In addition, and as a gentle reminder, if you communicate with team members on tech tools like Slack, remember that your teammates can see when you are actively online or not.

Lending unsolicited support and amplifying another persons efforts go a long way. It is also never too late to thank someone for an opportunity. There is no expiration date on gratitude. Thanking someone is also an underrated way to get back in touch. In addition, if you are someone who reaches out to your network to ask how they are while asking for nothing or even better, to offer support and take a sincere interest in what they are doing you will find yourself flush with social capital. A simple way to do this is to say, Your name popped into my head today, and I wanted to reach out to see how you are.

Remember that your credentials cant speak for themselves; they need to be bolstered by the relationships that you are fostering along the way. Your social capital ensures your professional longevity, especially when you are not physically present. For any type of professional, your connections are as meaningful as what you know and the skills you have. Even from afar, the most significant opportunities will always stem from your trusted reputation.

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Building Social Capital When You Work Remotely - HBR.org Daily

In a field experiment conducted with economists on Twitter, the authors find that users who are identifiable as white, women, and PhD students affiliated with top-ten universities are more likely to receive follow-backs.

Professional networks are important determinants of labor market outcomes, especially in academia, where collaboration is critical. Nevertheless, individuals access to formal and informal academic networks is far from homogeneous. This heterogeneity may exist for several reasons, but a plausible cause is discrimination: do individuals with specific group-based characteristics such as gender, race, or university affiliation have lower access to networks due to discrimination based on these characteristics?

To test this hypothesis, we conducted a randomized experiment on Twitter, a social media platform widely used by academics to develop their professional networks. We created human-like fictional accounts that claimed to be PhD students in economics at universities in the U.S. The accounts were identical to each other apart from their perceived gender (male or female), race (Black or white), and university affiliation (one of the top-ten U.S. universities or a relatively lower-ranked university listed between 79-100, according to the 2017 U.S. News & World Report).

The experimental accounts randomly followed Twitter profiles of various economists from around the world. The subjects in our experiment are people who used the #EconTwitter in posts in January and February 2022.

Interestingly, we can use public information from Twitter to predict some of those users characteristics, such as their gender, race, and university affiliation. Even in the observational data from this sample, we find some disparities in the number of followers between different groups of economists, particularly in terms of the economists race and university affiliation. This is illustrated in Figure 1, which shows our subjects log number of followers according to their predicted gender, race, and university ranking (conditional on the subject being an academic economist). In the observational data, the gender of the economist has no impact on the number of their followers. However, the distribution of followers for white economists is shifted to the right relative to the distribution among non-white economists, suggesting the median white economist has more followers than the median non-white economist. Top-ranked university economists similarly have more followers than economists from lower-ranked institutions. However, many factors may explain the differences (or lack thereof) in the number of followers between these groups, such that these results alone are not evidence of discrimination. For example, publication records or the frequency of posts on the platform could correlate with the racial identity or university affiliation of economists who use Twitter, so that race or university affiliation do not themselves explain differences in the number of followers. Our experiment allows us to identify whether discrimination exists in these dimensions (and in which direction) since the accounts created are identical in all dimensions except those we study.

Figure 1: Distribution of followers on #EconTwitter

For the core experiment of our study, we created 80 fictitious accounts and followed about 8,000 economists on Twitter. Figure 2 gives examples of our experimental accounts: the profile picture (an artificially generated image) signals gender and race, while the profiles description signals university affiliation. Names, both first and last, were selected from a list of common names according to the 2000 U.S. census. Names that indicated a specific ethnic minority group were removed from possible use. The experimental accounts randomly followed profiles of various economists. Then, after a few days, we measured the proportion of economists who reciprocally followed them back. By comparing the follow-back rate for each type of account, we could identify the existence (or not) of discrimination, since our accounts were identical except for the characteristics we manipulated.

Follow-backs are an interesting outcome in our setting because having many followers is essential to benefit from Twitter. The more followers an account has, the greater its potential impact and reach on this social network. Moreover, following an account back is a relatively low-cost action, suggesting that the disparities we find could be even larger in other (costlier) situations.

Figure 2: Sample experimental accounts

Overall, the follow-back rate varies substantially depending on the characteristics of the experimental accounts, as shown in Figure 3. For example, comparing the most extreme cases, we document that white women studying at prestigious universities were followed back in 23.9% of cases. In comparison, Black men from relatively less prestigious universities were followed back in only 14.4% of cases, a difference of over 65%. Strikingly, we also find that Black male students from top-ranked universities fare no better than white male students from lower-ranked institutions.

Figure 3: Follow-back rate by bot group

Figure 4 displays the main results of the experiment, comparing the marginal follow-back rate for each dimension we experimentally manipulated. Black students had a 10% less chance of receiving follow-backs than white students, while students who claimed to be studying at top-10 U.S. universities received almost 22% more follow-backs than their relatively lower-ranked counterparts. In addition, women had 25% more follow-backs than men.

Figure 4: Follow-back rates by bot group, marginal distributions

The differences found are substantial and statistically significant at conventional levels. They quantitatively demonstrate disparities in access to academic networks among members of these different groups, which can contribute to the lack of diversity in the profession. The race and university affiliation results are consistent with economists perceptions and evidence of disparities in these dimensions.

However, the result for gendersubjects were more likely to follow back female than male accountsruns counter to the overwhelming evidence, both within economics and in other contexts, of discrimination against women. We note that different mechanisms may be at play to explain this result. Some users, conscious of the barriers women face in the profession, could be attempting to engage more with women to correct those barriers. It is also possible that some subjects were using Twitter to establish social rather than professional connections and disproportionately wished to establish such connections with women. These two motives might have different implications regarding the consequences of having more Twitter followers on womens professional outcomes. While we cannot elicit the motivation behind each follow-back, considering how this effect varies by different subgroups of subjects may provide us some hints about this behavior (e.g., male subjects follow back female bots at a higher rate than female subjects).

Overall, by documenting that discrimination is indeed present in the context of the formation of academic networks, we aim to contribute to the debate about the lack of diversity in academia. Nevertheless, much more research on the topic is needed to understand, for instance, the motivation behind follows and how discrimination occurs in different stages of professional interactions. Still, our results indicate that, even on a platform regarded as democratic and egalitarian, different groups face different barriers to networking, which may reduce the potential benefit these groups obtain from the social media presence.

Articles represent the opinions of their writers, not necessarily those of the University of Chicago, the Booth School of Business, or its faculty.

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Discrimination in the Formation of Academic Networks at #EconTwitter - ProMarket

TikTok has held its third annual TikTok World event today, where its shared new insight into its latest product developments, ad tools, and creator options, along with strategy tips and pointers to help businesses grow their TikTok presence.

And even if you didnt catch the live event, you can still get up to date on all the announcements, with TikTok also launching a new TikTok World Hub mini-site, which provides a central space for all of the featured elements.

The TikTok World Hub includes video presentations from the event, covering the latest creator tools and options, including eCommerce elements, improving ad tools and more.

There are also links to a range of guides that can help to improve your TikTok marketing approach.

Within this, TikTok has also published two new guides Creative Codes, an overview of the key principles that drive standout creative in the app, as well as a 4-page explainer of TikTok creative principles.

The Creative Codes guide is the better of the two, highlighting a range of key principles and approaches to help maximize your TikTok content efforts.

There were no major updates announced as part of the TikTok World event, but TikTok has provided some valuable insights into what works best in the app, and what its working in as it continues to develop its ad tools.

If youre marketing on TikTok, its worth tuning in, and reading through the various guide notes to ensure that youre maximizing your potential in the app.

You can check out the TikTok World Hub here.

Read more here:
TikTok Launches 'TikTok World Hub' to Share Guides and Insights ... - Social Media Today

It seems the days of cold calls and 30-second pitches are overthe time of the direct message (DM) is upon us.

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Hard sells have long been a favorite of the budding entrepreneurspam calls are a tactic used by the likes of Tesla's Elon Musk and Apple's Steve Jobs.

Famously Jobs, aged 12, called Hewlett-Packards co-founder Bill Hewlett to request some leftover electronic parts. Years later Hewlett offered him an internship.

But the cold call has since morphed into sliding into someone's inbox instead of their voicemail.

It's a tool which is working not only for career help but also investments.

Billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has invested in two companies that sent him cold emails.

But it's not just investments that have arisen out of the lowly DM.

If it weren't for a DM, ESPN audiences wouldn't be used to seeing anchor Max McGee on their screens.

The SportsCenter host told Fortune he reached out to an executive at the network in late 2021 and at the time was working at CBS Baltimore.

McGee sent the executive a number of YouTube links to his work and a brief message saying if the network was holding auditions, he'd love to be considered.

"I figured everybody asks for a job," McGee said. "For me, I just wanted an opportunity to show them what I could do. If they didnt like me, I was willing to live with that."

His key piece of advice is simple: "Shoot your shot".

"You miss every shot you dont take," the TV journalist continued. "Stop being afraid of rejection. You could either choose to change your life or sit there idle and die. While I didnt expect a direct message to parlay into it changing my life, thats the magic of opportunity. Im a living example of having faith in yourself while keeping an open mind."

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McGee said he often gets DMs from both budding journalists and those already in the industry looking to level up. The trick, he says, is to be concise and authentic: "The ones that get my attention are the ones that arent a Harry Potter book in length long, and that have one or two questions that dont require a quick Google search. Being genuine will never go out of style."

This is the formula Oliver Pour followed when messaging 3,300 people on LinkedIn during his second year at Boston University in March 2020.

The undergraduate was seeking career advice and internship opportunities across the fields of tech, finance and consulting.

He's not alone in the ideaaccording to LinkedIn data half the users on the platform have used the network to gain access to people who previously would have been unavailable to them.

"To be honest I used to think LinkedIn was just another social media platform," Pour admitted. "I was young and naive and had zero idea about what I wanted to do for work.

"So I sorted my page out and just started approaching people at companies I was interested in like Amazon and Facebook."

An approach he quickly nailed down was beginning with an introduction of who he was, why he was interested in the individual he was approaching, and asking an accessible question like "what does your day-to-day look like?"

The result was 600 responses from VPs to sales executives across a range of businesses, and 400 conversations that lead to internships and networking opportunities.

Research from LinkedIn supports Pour's experiences50% of workers surveyed in April 2023 said they have usedthe platformto connect with a professional in their field that they otherwise wouldnt have had access to, with 44% saying networking now takes place online more often than it does physically.

Pour told Fortune he always knew his strengths were in relationships and communication, but in the post-pandemic world communicating online became all the more crucial.

"If you're going for any job or internship I'd message everyone you can find on that team to find out about the role," the New York-based account executive for legal processors Luminance said. "It basically gives you the inside track for the interviewthen when you start you already know the team that works there so it's a foot in the door.

"The best spokespeople on company culture are also the people who work there," Pour added. "It's in the interest of recruiters to sell you on that companythe same goes for the company's websitethe workers are the ones who know if there's a bad culture."

The art of the direct message has also transformed the portfolio and prospects of digital content creator Brooke Monkwho has not only formed relationships with brands like McDonald's thanks to the tactic, but also seen her invest in smaller businesses.

Monk, who has more than 36 million followers across her platforms, said she's had speaking opportunities and brand deals arise out of companies sliding into her DMsas well as opening up equity investment offers.

Usually in the $10,000 to $25,000 range, 19-year-old Monk has invested in brands like skincare business Aloe Attiva and healthy treats supplier Sunday's Creme Cookies.

When crafting a direct message Monk said she highlights a piece of research, work history or accomplishment the other person has achieved before segueing into business discussions.

"The best thing to do is look for people within the field that you're targeting and build genuine relationships and connections with thembefore leading straight into business," she told Fortune. "DM them asking to hop on a call to learn more about what they do and if opportunities do arise out of it, that's great, if not, at least you've made a new friend who can teach you about an industry that you may not know about."

Not every DM is going to hit first timeeven if you've sent the perfect note.

Following up on a cold DM isn't only necessary but expected in some cases, said LinkedIn's career expert Andrew McCaskill who said that in the case of job seekers, the onus is on them to keep the conversation going.

"Its expected and required that you will follow up but hiring managers or people you want to network with might also be busy," he said. "So, follow up once. Follow up a second time, and if you dont hear back, you might try again in a few weeks or request a warm introduction from a second-degree connection."

The odds are in your favor if you connect with someone in your fieldLinkedIn added that its April data shows that 79% of workers who connected with someone in their field onthe site saw itlead to a successful professional outcome.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from homeLooking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right nowBuying a house? Here's how much to saveThis is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home

Continued here:
DMs are the new elevator pitch: How an ESPN anchor, college graduate and social media influencer landed jobs, investments and brand deals by sliding...