Is LinkedIn a Social Innovation?

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Question 1: Is LinkedIn a Social Innovation
The concept of social innovation refers to the process of deploying or developing
effective solutions for the challenging and the systematic form of environmental and social
issues for supporting the social progress. In other words, social innovation can improve the
capacity of the society to transform and act. Social innovation refers to the newer form of social
practices that aims at meeting the social needs through better means compared to the existing
solution. This can be related to the working conditions, education, community, health or
development. The ideas get created with the target of strengthening or extending the civil
society. Social innovation thus involves the social procedures of innovation like the open source
methods and the techniques along with the innovations that have social purpose like the online
volunteering, microcredit, activism and distance learning. Moulaert, 2013) have put across that
transformative social innovation not only involve newer approaches for intractable problem but
remains successful in the changing of the social institutions that led to the problem in first place.
That includes novelty, meeting the social needs, effectiveness, transition from the ideas towards
the implementation and enhancing the capacity of the society towards undertaking innovative
acts.
Social Innovation has certain core elements. That includes novelty, meeting the social
needs, effectiveness, transition from the ideas towards the implementation and enhancing the
capacity of the society towards undertaking innovative acts. Cajaiba-Santana (2014) put across
that the features of the social innovation includes cross-sectoral aspects, newer social
capabilities and relationship, being experimental, collaborative and open, Coproduction and
presumption, mutualism, better usage of the asset and the resources and the development of the

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assets and the capabilities. It has been found that the core elements of social innovation are a
subset of its common features. There are various types of social innovations which includes ,
new products, new practices, new services, new markets, new technology, new platform, new
organizational forms, new rules and regulations and the new business models.
However, since the year2014, the sub domain of the social innovation is defined in
connection with digital technologies. The sub domain became known as the digital social
innovation thereby referring to type of collaborative and social innovations where the innovators,
communities and the users collaborate using the digital technologies for co creation of solutions
and knowledge for the wider range of the social needs at the scale and the speed that could not be
thought of before rise of internet.
LinkedIn is considered as employment and business oriented service that undertakes
operation via the websites and the mobile apps. It was found on December 28, 2002 and
launched in the May 5, 2003 (linkedin.com 2019). The LinkedIn app is primarily used for the
professional networking including the job postings by the employers as well as the job seekers.
As per the records of 2015, the company derived most of its revenue from selling the access to
the information about the member to the sales professionals and the recruiters. By the year 2019,
LinkedIn had close to 610 million registered users across 200 countries. Linked In can thus be
considered a social innovation as it deploys effective solutions for the employers and job seekers
through suitable job postings thereby supporting social progress.
Voorberg, Bekkers & Tummers (2015) put across that social innovation have been
launched by various actors that includes the companies, research institutions and the
independent organizations that uses the respective definitions related to the social innovation.

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Thus, it is worth undertaking a discussion about what distinguishes the aspects of the social
innovation from the other forms of the innovation or the social work. Social innovation focuses
on the innovation process and the manner in which change and innovation takes shape by
prioritizing the internal organizations of firms as well as productivity. The concept centers on the
new work and the newer means of cooperation specifically towards those that works towards
attainment of the sustainable society.
According to the Bureau of the European Policy Advisers, social innovation remains
characterized by the capacity of addressing the social needs that the traditional policy seems
incapable of tackling. It also ensures empowerment of the individuals and the groups and
willingness of changing the social relations. Therefore, social innovation has often been
presented in the manner in which that increases quality of the social services and the cost
effectiveness thereby offering superior, equivalent outcomes in spite of the constraints in budget
(Manzini, 2014). Social innovation might either take place within the government and for profit
sector or the spaces in between them.
Research has been focuses on types of the platforms that enabled this kind of cross-
sectoral and collaborative social innovation. There have been historical studies that suggest that
the transformation of a system might take years and hence not only requires the capacity of the
multiple partnerships but for the engaging policy, economic and legal institutions.
In this context it can be said that LinkedIn allowed the members in creating connections
and profiles to one another through an online social network that might represent real life
professional relationships. Here, the members could invite any individual in becoming a
connection. LinkedIn has been a completely owned subsidiary of Microsoft. Besides, LinkedIn