LinkedIn to the Revolution

The rise of the Cuban revolution could have been boosted had LinkedIn been accessible in the 1950's. There are many useful tools that would have come in very handy for Che, had the revolution come to fruition 60 years later. I have outlined each of the useful aspects of LinkedIn and how they would have been applicable to Che!

Profile

About

The profile section on LinkedIn allows you to advertise yourself as best as possible, highlighting your key interests. This would have been useful for Che, as it would act as a short advertising section for any of his potential followers. Some key details such as 'Guerrilla leader, situated in South America, with a passion for communism'.

Activity

Posts you created, shared, or commented on in the last 90 days are displayed here. This would show the activity of some of the people Che follow, allowing Che's followers to reach out to more people and expand their network. For example, Che's main activity would have been shared with Fidel Castro, so followers of Che, could then also see Fidel's page and follow him and learn of his agenda and plans for the revolution.

Experience

Here you could see Che's previous work experience. For example, what might appeal to his potential followers would be his role in the Cuban Literacy Campaign in 1961.

Education

For example his time spent studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires in 1951 and how he became radicalized by the poverty, hunger, and disease he witnessed as a medical student, which helped influence his uprising.

Jobs

The job section on LinkedIn would allow Che to advertise to his message to a larger target audience, compared to that available to him in the 1950's. The 'recommended for you' section aligns jobs with the users experience and interests, meaning any users who had relevant experience or education that could come useful to Che & Fidel in achieving their goals, could be recruited. For example one of the job they could have advertised on LinkedIn would be head of advertising for the Cuban revolution. This would align well with someone with relevant experience, but also interest with the political side of the movement. Another very useful tool would be that the user, applying for the job can filter their search for the relevant location. This would be useful to Che as he was constantly travelling throughout South America, gaining followers wherever he went. LinkedIn would have allowed him to actively advertise jobs in the different cities he visited, for example San Pablo or Mexico City.

Messaging

The messaging section would allow Che to contact his followers directly, for any enquiries that some followers have or it would allow Che to question any people he could potentially recruit for the revolution. A much quicker process that having to write to people back then! It saves any chat history so that Che could return to any messages that he felt were important at the time. The LinkedIn messaging tool also allows the user to sort their messages. As Che was quite a popular figure, he would likely get bombarded with messages from a vast amount of followers, by sending the unimportant messages to the 'Spam' file, he could only have to respond to messages that are important.

My Network

The network section, allows users to filter through any potential connections, by matching similarity in profiles. This would have been extremely useful to Che as it gives quick access to users profiles, being able to view their experience and interests - handy if Che was looking to recruit followers. It is likely that users from the University of Buenos Aires would appear in his 'My Network' section, so Che could views these profiles in hope that someone shares the same communist beliefs as himself, also the fact the would have university experience would match the intellectual needs that members of the revolution would have sought. The 'events' section would have allowed Che to advertise an event, for which he could spread his message. This would be particularly useful as he travelled South America, as he could plan his events around when he would arrive in each city, broadcasting his ideas to a greater audience.

Perhaps if LinkedIn was a readily available resource in the late 1950's then Che could have make greater strides with his movement, spreading his message to a greater audience, given the advertising tools that exist. Who knows maybe communism would have proliferated across the globe and changed the society we live in today!