Our study had been carried on members of a social network hosted on the professional social network site, LinkedIn. It produced two main outcomes. The first is a typology of online Networking on three different classes. The first is the NetMining, which is a exploratory use of the website, where the user accumulated contacts. The second category is the NetWorking, where the users select contacts based on defined characteristics. The NetSticking is the third category, in which the user reproduced online a personal network based on trust. Those three categories highlight two main characteristics, specific to online networking. First, networking uses different means of communication, in whichLinkedIn is sometimes central, but sometimes marginal. Those practices are besides not necessarily based on planed actions. The Second result of our enquiry is a study device of the networking practices which associated graphs visualization technics and semi-directed interviews analyses
Types of online networking on professional social network sites : case study of an alumni group hosted on LinkedIn