Lee Hill's "Living LinkedIn"

Is LinkedIn About To Be Sold?

Is Linkedin in play? Most of the recent flurry of reporting about Facebook has focused on the impact that its wildly successful foray into...

...the world of adult membership is having on MySpace, but there are signs that it is also having an effect on LinkedIn, the original social network for business users.

The signs are there, beginning with a series of executive changes being announced this week. Yesterday, the company named Steve Sordello, formerly of Tivo, as its new CFO. Tomorrow, it will announce that Patrick Crane, formerly of the Yahoo! Inc. Network Division where he headed up several key products, including the launch of Yahoo! Answers, is its new Vice President of Marketing. Crane's mandate is to help head up LinkedIn's first general marketing push with initiatives designed to build the community beyond its current eleven-million users. (Memo to PR people: if you want me to keep a secret, write "embargoed until ") on the release.

More significantly, some Wall Street types I know and generally trust tell me that there are discussions going on between LinkedIn and one of the oldest and most respected family-run business publishers. (Okay, I'll make it easy for you, McGraw-Hill.)

I think it would be a great move for both parties.

Transfer of Geico.tv And Thanks

I purchased Geico.tv in 2006, having somehow stumbled into it.  When Geico contacted me in April 2007 to request transfer of the domain I immediately replied affirmatively, but decided to survey others on the subject of domain ownership before passing registration to Geico.  So, I posed the question to LinkedIn participants using LinkedIn's Q&A feature.

The response was surprisingly enthusiastic.  So much so that Google searches of Geico.tv or Geico tv return the LinkedIn Q&A on this subject on the first page for each search.  The level of interest has made this an interesting exercise.

That said, I initiated the registration transfer to Geico this morning.  Thanks very much for your interest and participation in this subject.

Lee Hill

LinkedIn vs Facebook

About two months ago, during a routine update of my LinkedIn profile, I sent out a fresh email blast to friends and contacts. The acceptances trickled in over the next few days, along with a dismissive note from an ex-colleague, a tech journalist in San Francisco.

“Dude,” he wrote. “You must get on Facebook. LinkedIn is over.”

The London TimesOnline Story

TIME Magazine : Old Friends on Facebook

I knew something significant was up when, a couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail notifying me that a long-ago boss had added me as a "friend" on Facebook. This was a genuine grownup with an important and time-consuming job (that is, not a magazine writer). And here he was, asking me to be his social-networking buddy.

A lot of the things that grownups already do on the Internet, from blogging to participating in PTA newsgroups to mass e-mailing bad jokes to friends and family, could be described as social networking. The term is applied mainly, though, to the services that enable users to collect and communicate with a network of "friends." Friendster was the first, in 2002. The rise of these outfits has been one of the great business and societal stories of recent years. Americans now spend more time on MySpace, which was founded in 2004 and has supplanted Friendster, than on any other domain, including Google.

Up to now, though, this has been a game for the kids. Yes, lots of politicians and musicians and other adults have MySpace pages. But MySpace sees its core market as people in their 20s. Hardly anybody of my acquaintance (I'm 43 and don't know a lot of politicians or musicians) hangs out there. I do know lots of people on LinkedIn, a business-networking site. But LinkedIn is about finding jobs and making deals and getting answers to business questions. It's not a place to while away your days.

Which brings us to Facebook. Founded at Harvard early in 2004 by sophomore Mark Zuckerberg and transplanted to California that summer, it swept the nation's campuses with its unique mix of exclusivity (you couldn't sign up without a college e-mail address) and postadolescent rambunctiousness. Facebook began admitting high schoolers in 2005, started hooking up workplace networks (first at companies that employ lots of recent grads) in April 2006 and opened to all in September.

Now Facebook claims to be signing up 150,000 new members a day. MySpace says it's adding 250,000 members daily, but those don't all represent actual people (MySpace places no restrictions on how many identities one can assume), and there's a widespread belief--albeit one not yet backed up by much hard data--that Facebook is gaining ground. It's a belief shared by Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns MySpace. When an interviewer quipped in June that readers were abandoning newspapers for MySpace, Murdoch shot back, "I wish they were. They're all going to Facebook at the moment."

In May, Facebook opened its online platform to anyone who wants to build applications for it, from music-sharing services to carpool arrangers, making it a potentially much more useful tool. Some in Silicon Valley wonder excitedly if the company--which reportedly turned down a billion-dollar buyout offer from Yahoo! last year--might become not just the hottest tech IPO since Google but also the next major stage in the Web's evolution. First there was the browser, then the search engine. Now we'll move on to what Zuckerberg calls the "social graph," the filter of personal connections that defines Facebook.

"Over the next three or four or five years, this stuff is going to reach a much larger number of people," says Marc Andreessen, whose Netscape browser helped launch the first age of the Internet as a mainstream phenomenon. "It's just getting started." Andreessen describes Facebook as akin to AOL in the 1990s--introducing tens of millions of beginners to a new form of communication. As a co-founder of Ning, a maker of customized social networks, he's betting that many users will eventually tire of the one-size-fits-most approach. But he hastens to add that Facebook "is going to be supersuccessful."

So, what are the newly arrived grownups doing now on Facebook? My previously dormant account suddenly began filling up in May with "friends"--journalists, Silicon Valley networkaholics, a guy in Australia who sometimes comments on my blog, plus a few important people like my ex-boss. Facebook's News Feed updates me on whom these people have befriended, where they're vacationing, whether they went on a bike ride today, and the like. It's frivolous stuff, but you can see the potential of an online world arranged to emphasize the doings and opinions of those who matter to you most. You can see the pitfalls too, mainly in defining who matters. In the world of Facebook, friends don't drift apart. Either someone makes an active break, or the connection and the News Feeds go on forever. Get used to it.

• Find this article at:http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1640380,00.html

Facebook Discussion Inside LinkedIn's Q&A Feature

Of interest.  What are LinkedIn users saying about Facebook?  A series of posts on the subject to follow?

LinkedIn : Answers : "I love LinkedIn, but what about other networks?"

Q : I'm an open networker with about 1,000 connections. As a result, I get a lot of invitations to connect to OTHER networks. I have hesitated to join yet another network because of the time it would take to respond to everyone. However, I have also seem that other networkers belong to several networks. So, my questions are:
1. If you were only going to add one more network, which one would it be?  Why?
2. What other networks would you consider? Why?
3. Are there any networks that you would avoid? Why?

A: Despite the 'millions' that are thrown about by some networks when talking about registered users like it was a Cold War arms race, what really counts is the number of active users and the quality of those users.

Each of Viadeo, Xing and Linked'in each have their own 'personalities' and have different qualities and for the moment 'geography'. Although I work with Viadeo, I have long used and like Linked'in but I use it as it was designed to be used - as an online address book for people I already know. The job board is not so relevant to me as to get a job in Silicon Valley I would need a US work permit.

The idea of being on different networks may be an aneathma for certain people but people will soon appreciate and use each of these networks differently. Saying I only use Linked'in is great but what happens when two large networkers, say one on Network A and one on Network B meet and invite each other to 'join their networks'? Do you refuse to join their network
because you only use Heinz Ketchup?

In some respects it is a little like the early days of IM when you would be on AIM and someone would invite you to join MSN. There would be a standoff sometimes and some people would end up with each of the AIM, MSN and Yahoo IM systems on their computer. A hassle but these people got great power by being the connectors between different networks!

Why not be on several networks - at least to extent it is free. You stand to gain even by passive networking or being 'on the other' network. The same way you stand a better chance of winning the lottery by buying a ticket than by not buying a ticket.

A : Facebook is worth your time. It is going in the right direction and is easy to use. For example, to add a group on Linkedin can take up to 1 year. They are that badly understaffed. On Facebook, you can add a group in under 10 minutes.  Because Facebook is a little more personal than Linkedin, people are a little more particular about who they connect to. The networks are more genuine.

Second place would go to Jobster.   They are doing some innovating and winning users over in the process.  They may merge with Facebook though. There are lots of others that are out there, but these are still at the top of the list. Some of these might include Xanga, Friendster, and Ecademy or Open BC. Jobster is moving in the right direction and is best for people in the US who live on the West Coast. Xanga and Friendster are still out there, but aren't attracting huge new audiences or innovating for now. Open BC is big in Europe, but then LinkedIn is growing there too. Ecademy has gained a few additional users, but doesn't really promise anything that LinkedIn doesn't.

Avoid spending time with more than three social networks.  Your time is more valuable.

A : I take a different approach. There are only so many hours in a day so my networking philosophy is to choose one and become proficient in managing it. I’ve chosen LinkedIn. When I am not servicing my clients or not preparing for a pitch to get new business, I try to utilize LinkedIn as business development recourse. Juggling two, three or more business networking sites would pull me away from concentrating on LinkedIn and be terribly inefficient with my time.

A :

It's all about your networking focus. Do you want to meet new people or just get in touch with those you already know?
LinkedIn is of course the reference in the US, but if you want to reach more than one million business people in Europe, you can't avoid Viadeo.com.
Check out the multilingual interface and community hubs.                    

                  

Links:

      

•                              http://www.viadeo.com/invitacionpersonalizada/00223egkkez95g2q                                                              

A :

The value of a network is primarily based on membership. No one wants to be the first person at a party! According to Alexa's traffic ratings (see link below) LI ranks #37. The only other social network ranked higher is Facebook (#7). My personal experience with FB is that it is a younger demographic that does not have the "professional bias" of LI. None of the other professional networking sites rank in the top 100 (I don't include Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com in this category of networks).

                  

Links:

      

•                              http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?cc=US&ts_mode=country&lang=none                                                              

A : LinkedIn is a very good network, but what is it really? It's a network of 10 million registered people 5 million of which are so badly "LinkedIn" that effectively they are not members at all.

LinkedIn is valuable because the other 5 million people can be found using an excellent search engine. In addition LinkedIn pages are listed by other search engines, and sometimes that's useful.

LinkedIn Answers is a very useful new service. Sadly those writing answers to the service most are not necessarily the best experts available. However, everyone who tries to write a reply to a question benefits from the process of developing a message worth communicating. Every participant benefits, even if a really useful reply isn't written.

The weakness of LinkedIn has been the lack of forums where people could express and develop ideas. The best example of this that I know is on Ryze, but Xing also has useful forums. LinkedIn has developed forums on Yahoo, and while these work, they are not as well differentiated into interest groups as the Ryze or Xing Forums. Recently I've become involved on Viadeo. In theory they should ave very active and useful forums (Hubs) too. I've developed to Hubs there, in English, and while there has been growth, those hubs are not yet working as I would wish.

(My personal invitation to join Viadeo is on this help page.
http://www.ate.co.nz/viadeo/)

There is great benefit arising from networking if you PARTICIPATE in reading forums and if you ALSO write to these forums yourself. Yes it does take time, sometime lots of time, but that is the process of self education and self development. I have noticed the changes that happen to people who regularly try to participate.

They begin hesitant and sometimes incoherent. Two people I know used to write the most silly questions, and never had anything useful to say when I first met them three years ago. Another started a network called "couch potatoes" when she first began on Ryze.

Many people I've networked with have become much better informed, and with that much more confident in their own views. As they practice writing, not only do their own ideas become stronger, but their ability to express themselves clearly also develops.

I've mentioned three people:
One is now the articulate and respected leader of a network about world religions.
One is now a dynamic local leader in his local community, driving along the business association in his own town, and enlisting help from around the world in that process.
An the "Couch Potato" is not the active leader of a highly successful network on world political and economic affairs, began her own monthly podcast about a year ago, and recently has become a radio host.

Those are not small returns for becoming active in networks.
That sort of return is a good reason to be involved in at least one other social/business network outside of LinkedIn.

Go to LinkedIn and see all of the answers and authors on this question.

Who's Crashing the Facebook Party?

... earlier this week LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman announced his site's API to make it more of platform like Facebook. LinkedIn is a business networking site, sharing resumes and recommendations.

So suddenly groups are mixing. What used to be college students in Facebook, business people in LinkedIn, and the rest of Web 2.0 in MySpace, is now a free-for-all.

The newcomers are also wary. I asked a 33-year old software company CEO about Facebook vs. LinkedIn. "I don't want to mix my business contacts with social contacts," she answered, "but there's no question that Facebook is suddenly very interesting.The API makes it much more attractive." She, however, is keeping her business networking in LinkedIn.

Go to the story.

The Dark Side of AJAXy, All-Seeing LinkedIn

... some clear problems with LinkedIn.

1. You give people a "permission" channel, and they'll find a way to spam it. Make it searchable and categories, they can target their spam. Recruiters and other questionable interrupters have begun using this service to bother people. A variation on the trick is to have the bothering come from someone at the VP level at a major company. That looks like potential business development when all it is is a search for referrals for potential hires for qualified senior managerial positions. (And a great way to save the fee you'd otherwise pay the recruiting firm, but now I think you're spamming me directly instead of blaming the evil headhunters.)

2. Corporate espionage. Who you've just added to your list can tip off competitors about your business development efforts, private deals, and secret strategies. A friend had partnership talks with several large online properties. Her direct competitor became aware of this right away simply by spying on her LinkedIn profile. Maybe worse: sometimes you're not in talks with anybody, or up to anything in particular, but because of the timing of your new contacts being added, people jump to erroneous conclusions.

All fretting aside, many people have spoken about doing a "cull" of their LinkedIn list and eliminating people they don't seem to recognize or know well. You do so at the risk of offending people, of course, but think of the upside: now the relationships you do have become more meaningful. I think probably the worst reason not to do a cull would be that it looks like you have more friends or admirers if you leave more contacts on your list (a la Orkut: you have 353 "stars" and 448 "hearts," and many Brazilian pals!). So maybe I'll set aside an arbitrary number I hope to pare back to: 42.

The positives of LinkedIn are still there. You get current profiles, current email addresses, and lots more besides. It keeps a part of your life out of email. But like email, the channel surely needs to be managed.

As for linking into people at your own company... I think that completely misses the point. Why do people do this? Go for lunch, or at least coffee. If your company is really big, doesn't requesting to link in to some distant superior just emphasize your lowly status? Better to contact by conventional means, or to otherwise make yourself conspicuous (through achievement, etc.).

Go to the entry.

Apparently, Some Real Live Actual Bloggers Are Pretty Much Sploggers

This entry, from Andrew Goodman of Traffick.com, "How about this guy who virtually lifts and reprints all of my content from a recent post, with only a tiny link saying "go to the entry"? Not cool, man."

Hey Andrew, I appreciate your edgy point of view... next time I'll do a better job to assigning credit.

Job posting may hint at Facebook IPO down the road (Updated)

Caroline McCarthy's NewsBlog Entry

Social networking's current hottie, Facebook, might be considered a pretty sexy acquisition target (to put it lightly) for new media's biggest players. But if an intriguing job posting on Facebook's site is to be believed, the service may be headed for an initial public offering instead.

The job listing, which was dug up by Valleywag on Monday, reveals that the company is seeking a "Stock Administration Manager" to work in its main office in Palo Alto, Calif. The job description also asks for "proficiency in stock option administration applications," a minimum of four years "stock administration experience in an international public company, preferably a technology company," and--naturally--knowledge of the post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.

...