Today's email brought this announcement of applications from LinkedIn:
Today we're announcing many more ways to interact with your network on LinkedIn. Whether it's a new way to create projects and collaborate, share information, customize your profile, or gain key insights, the new LinkedIn Applications deliver.
You may have had the same thought I did.
So what?
I've been a member of LinkedIn since the service started. And the fact is, I don't really interact with my network on LinkedIn. I can count on one hand the number of times I've contacted someone using the service. Other tools such as email, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter have largely supplanted it for me.
With about 30 million members and projected revenue of $100 million in 2008 from the subscription services they offer, LinkedIn is profitable. But it has nowhere near the buzz of newer startups like Facebook, with over 60 million members and revenue of up to $350 million. It may be an excellent place to connect with people, find a job, or recruit employees, but I don't believe that introducing a few applications -- all of which are available already elsewhere -- is going to drastically change that situation.
LinkedIn is arriving very late to the social applications party. Comparing your Amazon reading list with those of your network, sharing your blog posts and travel plans with your network, or using online workspaces -- these things are not novel, and you are probably already doing the same thing elsewhere. Are you going to limit yourself to the LinkedIn world to do them? Perhaps LinkedIn would be better off providing an API into their network or networks for use by external application developers?
Furthermore, though LinkedIn claims that applications are developed using the OpenSocial API, the platform is not publically available. The company makes this statement:
The LinkedIn application platform is not publicly available for all developers. We evaluate requests to develop for the LinkedIn platform from partners who have clearly compelling value to our users and who can rigorously follow our privacy policies. We are looking for applications that provide clear business utility to LinkedIn users. LinkedIn is not a place for sheep throwing.
If I have an application with a clearly compelling value I don't need the approval of LinkedIn; I can just build the application either by myself or for a different platform. This is not the way to attract developers. And developers are needed to create the applications that will attract people to LinkedIn. Not rehashes of existing products.
After all, as my recent experience with the iPhone app store shows, it appears that there are many excellent productivity tools that don't involve sheep throwing at all.
Larry Borsato has been a software developer, marketer, consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur, among other things. For more of his unpredictable, yet often entertaining thoughts you can read his blog at larryborsato.com.
Comments
I disagree completely. LinkedIn is a business tool and a very powerful one that I think could eventually put a lot of SFA tools out of business. They have focused on building a database that is unmatched for business networking and company intelligence. If they can encourage developers to come up with tools to help foster business relationships without cluttering up the site, more power to them. And being late to the party is not always a bad thing.
totally agree with Chris. LinkedIn has a unique and different user base. This will only enhance the stickiness....
LinkedIn is my main competitor. But if you do a good job, you can get a lot from these new features.
Well done for standing up and calling out the Emperor's new clothes Larry.
LinkedIn has done a great job of selling people's own contact databases back to them as a great new business tool. It offers very little to help broker valuable new connections however -- ones where there is a need and a supplier and that could lead to real business. In fact, LinkedIn punished you if you attempt to network outside of your existing connections to new contacts (your account gets restricted if people reply that they don't know you). To me, that is NOT business networking.
This rigidity is what led me to go and start WeCanDo.BIZ earlier this year. I can't use a system that tells me who I can and can't network with; nor one that does very little to help me build a network of potential business contacts.
That aside, I just tried to add Company Buzz and I got a message back saying it has technical difficulties.
Even when it gets to work, I am unsure how it actually is going to give me what I need. LinkedIn says my Company Group is "Entel", which is, in fact, a truncated version of one of my company names and not a company I work for at all (I already get irrelevant news headlines each time I log in). It completely ignores my current WeCanDo.BIZ entry. So when it gets to start working I have a feeling it will be showing me Twitter entries for a company I don't work for, and neither of the two I do.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
I agree that LinkedIn is definitely late to the party here and that these apps are available elsewhere, but that won't preclude me from using them. I have had much success in new networking within LinkedIn re: introductions. In fact, that intro often comes with an endorsement that kicks off the new relationship right. That said, yes, I have also been frustrated with being punished, as you say, for reaching out to those don't know and it's is true that they've made profits selling my own contact list back to me.
But, I do believe these apps will be useful to people and the challenge with new companies like the one Ian is pitching in his comment is that the people I know are already on LI and a new site would have to create some pretty big magic to elicit the kind of mass exodus users would need to go elsewhere.
Jennifer
http://www.speakmediablog.com
Thanks for all of the comments. My point was really that these applications are already available elsewhere, and I've migrated my networks to them as well. This LinkedIn lost the chance - for me anyway - to be the sole place that I do my networking.
Other than Jennifer, you folks didn't note how you have used LinkedIn productively. I'd love to hear those stories.
By the way, the genesis of this article was a presentation I was at where Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com, asked why people were on LinkedIn. An audience of approximately 200 tech-focused people couldn't come up with a real reason. That doesn't mean there aren't any, but it was a bit telling.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts!
I dont agree, its true that anyone can build these as stand alone apps but the power is how do you communicate to your network about your blogs, professional slide, your files....etc.....you need one place and that is linkedin. Its like hosting a big party and no one comes to it. Linkedin has a user base which is valuable.
Great dialogue, I blogged about this today (see link below my name). I think it's fine that LI has held off on this for a while, as there are other places to improve. Comparing LI to FB is, imo, apples to oranges, as the reasons people go there are different.
I kind of like LI's caution on adding new stuff, specifically these applications. Heck, it took forever to even get profile pictures up, right? Or the twitter-like status, which resets itself after about 3 days! They are cautious to the point of dissuading spammers from using LI the way they use FB, and they are jealously shielding their userbase from potential spam-like offenses.
I would love to interface my product (JibberJobber.com) to LinkedIn, and it will be interesting to see how they roll out other apps, but for now I'll just wait to see how the dust settles.
For some this is a facebook me-too play, and much needed, for others this is just a bunch of noise.
Jason Alba
Author - I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???
Coauthor - I'm on Facebook -- Now What???
Post new comment