LinkedIn Gets a Makeover
Posted by Nick O'Neill on December 10th, 2007 10:27 AM
LinkedIn has finally updated their design and interface and have added a brand new developer platform that enables developers to spread the utility of LinkedIn across the web. On my site AllFacebook.com, I previously suggested that Facebook’s grouping features would be the downfall of LinkedIn. That still could be the case given that I have personally added most of my business colleagues as contacts on Facebook. Conversely, I have also added them as contacts on LinkedIn.
So which network ends up on top? Right now LinkedIn only has my business contacts and a few friends that I have engaged in business with. Facebook on the other hand has a collection of business, social and family contacts as well as fans of my AllFacebook blog. Currently I have no way to organize my contacts on Facebook so that means LinkedIn is still the more organized location of my professional contacts.
Eric Eldon states that, “You’ll see connections from friends from other social networks like Myspace and Hi5 show up in LinkedIn.” I’m not quite sure adding my MySpace contacts to LinkedIn is such a great idea. The last thing I want is to pollute the last unpolluted social network that I’m a member of.
One really sweet feature that has been added to this LinkedIn update is via a partnership with Business Week. While reading articles on their site, you can see how you are connected through LinkedIn to the companies and individuals mentioned in each article. That definitely makes the news much more personal. Additionally, LinkedIn has released a newsfeed that mimics Facebook’s newsfeed. I have a feeling that the newsfeed is going to become a standard across all social networks.
Eric Eldon has hyped this up to the biggest launch since the Facebook platform. He may be right but it definitely is not the biggest announcement since Facebook’s platform. The biggest announcement would have to be MySpace’s platform announcement. Whatever similarities and differences LinkedIn and Facebook have, one thing is certain: the battle for leader in professional social networking is far from over.
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I've never heard of Myspace being used for business networking, except by starving musicians. Myspace basically isn't a contender when it comes to social networking for professionals.
Imho, business social networking has the most opportunity for growth, as work-related social connections are integrated into the software you use in the office. LinkedIn is in the best position to execute on that.
Also, Myspace's strategy is disorganized. First they did their own big announcement about their platform. Then they said, "guys, we were actually part of Open Social the whole time -- get it!" And it's still not clear what app could be a big deal. Sure, Slide and RockYou and some other companies will exploit it.... but what are we talking about here, a universal Food Fight? :)
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As I wrote, "I’m not quite sure adding my MySpace contacts to LinkedIn is such a great idea. The last thing I want is to pollute the last unpolluted social network that I’m a member of."
In the general social networking area, I still think MySpace's announcement was bigger since there are many times more people using MySpace over linked in. In the professional social networking space, this is the biggest announcement since the Facebook platform launched.
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