LinkedIn beating Facebook at its own game

http://dwolchon.com/blog/2011/01/linkedin-eating-facebooks-lunch/

by dwolchon • 16 years ago

3 2 16 years ago

LinkedIn's email campaign of "who changed jobs in 2010" is better than any email I have gotten from Facebook. Shouldn't they have thought of this first?

keeronmarc• 16 years ago

In regards to the facebook vs. linkedin article. I will say that while facebook does miss out in marketing a "newsfeed aggregator" with your friend's latest events, marriages, etc. Linkedin can afford to do this for a couple of reasons.

LinkedIn is business or career focused website, while facebook is personal, or social website. We are career orientated people and don't mind reading newsfeed of promotions, company failures, successes,etc. In other words, business news is an easy read, while relationships which facebook specializes in, must be handled more carefully.

So, while showing A "linkedin" style who's on top, who did well this year, etc, who got promoted --- this works well in career orientated discussions. Relationships ---who got married, dumped, friended etc, borders on personal and relationships and must be handled carefully.

WHat I would suggest, for increased " networking" or "interaction" for facebook users would be heat maps of users friends. So for example, you can view your user's friends or your friends with a us or global map showing where the most concentration of friends is, and how they moved or changed over the last 1-3 years.

Maybe that is or isnt such a good idea.. comments, feedback..

dwolchon• 16 years ago

I think that Facebook has been so successful because it appeals to stalkerish nature in everyone. They want to browse the site, see what people are doing, and what is going on in their lives. That's why I think it's more powerful than what LinkedIn is doing.

I think people are more interested in changes in their personal life (or friends lives) on a weekly basis than careers on LinkedIn. I agree that LinkedIn is focused on business and someone's career, but I think that there is far more potential in doing the same thing but on a personal level (which handling it carefully, as you suggest).

I think that a heat map of friends is a good idea, but it's a one time element that is useful for you and potentially your friends. I'm thinking that the newsfeed aggregator would be better at getting users to come back into the site on a more frequent basis. Maybe it isn't needed as much because so many of Facebook's users come back to the site on a daily basis.

Interesting feedback! Thanks for the comment.

LinkedIn beating Facebook at its own game

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