LinkedIn: High-impact Strategies - What You Need to Know: Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors

Kevin Roebuck

Description

LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of 22 March 2011, LinkedIn reports more than 100 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Russian and Turkish. Quantcast reports Linkedin has 21.4 million monthly unique U.S. visitors and 47.6 million globally. In June 2011, LinkedIn has 33.9 million unique visitors, up 63 percent from a year earlier and surpassed MySpace.

LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE symbol ""LNKD"".

This book is your ultimate resource for LinkedIn. Here you will find the most up-to-date information, analysis, background and everything you need to know.

In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about LinkedIn right away, covering: LinkedIn, LinkedIn Answers, 2degrees Network, Academia.edu, AfterCollege, BoardEx, Brave New Talent, Brightnetwork, Business networking, Circalit, Doostang, Epernicus, Eureka Streams, Exploroo, Exxset, Focus.com, HR.com, International Association of Internet Professionals, International Ombudsman Association, Knowledge Plaza, Law firm network, Lexwiser, LinkedIn Open Networker, Lyro, Meettheboss, MotorCityConnect, MyQick, Nepako Corporation, NRG Networks, OfficeArrow, OnGreen, Plaxo, Professional network service, ProZ.com, Qapacity, Ryze, Sciclyc, SHWBIZ, Spoke (website), Talkbiznow, U24, Viadeo, Visible.me, Webcoherence, XING, Yahoo! Kickstart, Yahoo! Teachers, Yoolinkpro, YouNoodle

This book explains in-depth the real drivers and workings of LinkedIn. It reduces the risk of your technology, time and resources investment decisions by enabling you to compare your understanding of LinkedIn with the objectivity of experienced professionals.

Sujets

• Computers
• Informatique
• General officer
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Emereo Publishing
• Date de parution: 24 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781743331781
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Topic relevant selected content from the highest rated entries, typeset, printed and shipped.

Combine the advantages of up-to-date and in-depth knowledge with the convenience of printed books.

A portion of the proceeds of each book will be donated to the Wikimedia Foundation to support their mission: to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.

The content within this book was generated collaboratively by volunteers. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information. Some information in this book maybe misleading or simply wrong. The publisher does not guarantee the validity of the information found here. If you need speciîc advice (for example, medical, legal, înancial, or risk management) please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.

Sources, licenses and contributors of the articles and images are listed in the section entitled “References”. Parts of the books may be licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. A copy of this license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”

All used third-party trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Contents

Articles LinkedIn LinkedIn Answers

2degrees Network Academia.edu AfterCollege BoardEx Brave New Talent Brightnetwork Business networking Circalit Doostang Epernicus Eureka Streams Exploroo Exxset Focus.com HR.com

International Association of Internet Professionals International Ombudsman Association Knowledge Plaza Law firm network Lexwiser LinkedIn Open Networker Lyro Meettheboss MotorCityConnect MyQick Nepako Corporation NRG Networks OfficeArrow OnGreen Plaxo Professional network service ProZ.com

1 7 8 10 11 12 14 15 18 20 21 23 24 27 28 29 30 32 33 35 36 39 40 43 45 47 49 51 52 53 55 57 59 60

Qapacity Ryze Sciclyc SHWBIZ Spoke (website) Talkbiznow U24 Viadeo Visible.me Webcoherence XING Yahoo! Kickstart Yahoo! Teachers Yoolinkpro YouNoodle

References Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Article Licenses License

61 63 64 66 67 69 72 73 76 77 79 81 82 84 85

89 91

92

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

Type

Traded as

Founded

Founder

Headquarters

Area served

Key people

Revenue

Net income

Employees

Slogan

Website

IPv6 support

Alexa rank

Type of site

Advertising

Registration

Users

Available in

Launched

Public

LinkedIn Corporation

[1] NYSE:`LNKD

Santa Monica, California (2003)

Reid Hoffman Allen Blue Konstantin Guericke Eric Ly Jean-Luc Vaillant

Mountain View, California, US

Worldwide

Reid Hoffman, (Chairman) Jeff Weiner, (CEO)

[2] US$161.4`million (Jan.–Sep. 2010)

$1.85`million (2010)

1,000 (2010)

Relationships Matter

[3] linkedin.com

No

[4] 15 (July 2011)

Social network service

Google, AdSense

Required

100 million (March 2011)

English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Russian and Turkish.

May 5, 2003

Current statusActive

[1] LinkedIn(pronounced /ˌlɪakt.ˈɪn/) (NYSE:`LNKD ) is a business-related social networking site. Founded in [5] December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of 22 March 2011, LinkedIn reports more than 100 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories [6] [7] worldwide. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Russian [8] [9] and Turkish. Quantcast reports Linkedin has 21.4`million monthly unique U.S. visitors and 47.6`million [10] globally. In June 2011, LinkedIn has 33.9 million unique visitors, up 63 percent from a year earlier and surpassed [11] MySpace.

1

LinkedIn

LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the [12] NYSE symbol "LNKD".

Company background LinkedIn's CEO is Jeff Weiner, previously a Yahoo! Inc. executive. The company was founded by Reid Hoffman and founding team members from PayPal and Socialnet.com (Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Lee Hower, Konstantin Guericke, Stephen Beitzel, David Eves, Ian McNish, Yan Pujante, and Chris Saccheri). Founder Reid Hoffman, previously CEO of LinkedIn, is now Chairman of the Board. Bhushan Kasvekar is Vice [13] President of Products. LinkedIn is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Omaha, Chicago, [14] New York and London. It is funded by Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture [15] Partners and the European Founders Fund. LinkedIn reached profitability in March 2006 Through January 2011, [16] the company had received a total of $103`million of investment. [17] In 2003, Sequoia Capital led the Series A investment in the company. In June 2008, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and other venture capital firms purchased a 5% stake in the company for $53`million, giving the company a [18] post-money valuation of approximately $1`billion. [19] In June 2010, LinkedIn announced it would be opening up a European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. In July 2010, Tiger Global Management LLC purchased a 1% stake in the company for $20`million at a valuation of [20] approximately $2`billion. In August 2010, LinkedIn announced the acquisition of Mspoke. It is the company's first acquisition for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition aims to help LinkedIn users do more than just find a job, increase users' [21] [22] activity and improve its 1% premium subscription ratio. [23] In October 2010 Silicon Valley Insider ranked the company No.10 on its Top 100 List of most valuable start ups. [24] As of December 2010, the company was valued at $1.575`billion in private markets. [25] LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering on January 27, 2011. The IPO occurred on May 19. Shares, initially [26] priced at $45, rose to $122.70 in the first day of trading. The stock closed up 109% in its first day of trading, [27] making it the fifth-largest first day gainer in the post bubble era.

Membership [28] [29] With 100`million users, LinkedIn is ahead of its competitors Viadeo (30`million) and XING (10`million). The membership grows by a new member approximately every second. About half of the members are in the United States and 11 million are from Europe. With 3`million users, India has the fastest-growing network of users as of [30] 2009. The Netherlands has the highest adoption rate per capita outside the US at 30%. LinkedIn recently reached [31] [32] 4 million users in UK and 1 million in Spain. [33] As of March 2011 the service had 44 million users in the US and 56`million outside.

Features One purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people with whom they have some level of relationship, calledConnections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection. However, if the recipient of an invitation selects "I don't know", this counts against the person inviting them, and after five such "IDKs" a member cannot invite another to connect without first supplying their recipient mail address. This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways: b A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termedsecond-degree connections) and also the connections of second-degree connections (termedthird-degree

2

LinkedIn

connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual contact. b It can then be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network. b Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. b Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them. b Users can post their own photos and view photos of others to aid in identification. b Users can now follow different companies and can get notification about the new joining and offers available. b Users can save (i.e. bookmark) jobs which they would like to apply for. The "gated-access approach" (where contact with any professional requires either a preexisting relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the service's users. LinkedIn participates in the [34] EU's International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles. LinkedIn also allows users to research companies with which they may be interested in working. When typing the name of a given company in the search box, statistics about the company are provided. These may include the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions held within the company, the location of the company's headquarters and offices, or a list of present and former employees. [35] The feature LinkedIn Answers, similar to Yahoo! Answers, allows users to ask questions for the community to answer. This feature is free and the main difference from the latter is that questions are potentially more business-oriented, and the identity of the people asking and answering questions is known. Another LinkedIn feature is LinkedIn Polls. A mobile version of the site was launched in February 2008 which gives access to a reduced feature set over a mobile phone. The mobile service is available in six languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese and [36] Spanish. [37] In mid-2008, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn DirectAds as a form of sponsored advertising. In October, 2008, LinkedIn revealed plans to opening its social network of 30 million professionals globally as a potential sample for business-to-business research. It is testing a potential social-network revenue model-research [38] that to some appears more promising than advertising. In October, 2008, LinkedIn enabled an "applications platform" that allows other online services to be embedded within a member's profile page. Among the initial applications were an Amazon Reading List that allows LinkedIn members to display books they are reading, a connection to Tripit, and a Six Apart, WordPress and TypePad [39] application that allows members to display their latest blog postings within their LinkedIn profile. In November, 2010, LinkedIn allowed businesses to list products and services on company profile pages; it also [40] permitted LinkedIn members to "recommend" products and services and write reviews. In January 2011, LinkedIn acquired CardMunch, a mobile app maker that scans business cards and converts into [41] contacts. LinkedIn plans to integrate this functionality into their services in the near future. LinkedIn also supports the formation of interest groups, and as of March 24, 2011 there are 870,612 such groups [42] whose membership varies from 1 to 377,000. The majority of the largest groups are employment related, although a very wide range of topics are covered mainly around professional and career issues, and there are currently 128,000 groups for both academic and corporate alumni. Groups support a limited form of discussion area, moderated by the group owners and managers. Since groups offer the ability to reach a wide audience without so easily falling foul of anti-spam solutions, there is a constant stream of spam postings, and there now exist a range of firms who offer a spamming service for this very purpose. LinkedIn has devised a few mechanisms to reduce the volume of spam, but recently took the decision to remove the ability of [42] group owners to inspect the email address of new members in order to determine if they were spammers.

3

LinkedIn

Groups may be private, accessible to members only or may be open to Internet users in general to read, though they must join in order to post messages.

Reception LinkedIn has received a generally positive reception from critics. Online trade publication TechRepublic claimed [43] that "LinkedIn has become the de facto tool for professional networking." Irish journalist James O'Sullivan commented in theEvening Echo, an award-winning regional newspaper in the Republic of Ireland, where the company has its European headquarters, that "LinkedIn.com, a business-orientated networking site, can be an ideal way for professionals to present an online profile of themselves...Unlike social networking sites, [with] LinkedIn you're outlining all your credentials; presenting the professional rather than the personal you. Considering the sheer vastness of the digital space, the potential for building up a solid base of contacts and fostering new business [44] relationships is boundless."

Restriction of access to some countries

In 2009 Syrian users reported that LinkedIn server stopped accepting connections originating from IP addresses assigned to Syria. As company's Customer Support stated, services provided by them are subject to US export and re-export control laws and regulations and"As such, and as a matter of corporate policy, we do not allow member [45] accounts or access to our site from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria."

Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria are not available in the list of countries that LinkedIn users can select as one's location. However, as of April 2010, North Korea is still present there. In February 2011 it was reported that LinkedIn was being blocked in China after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution". It was speculated to have been blocked because it is an easy way for dissidents to access Twitter, which had been [46] blocked previously. After a day of being blocked, LinkedIn access was restored in China.

SNA LinkedIn [47] The Search, Network, and Analytics team at LinkedIn has a web site that hosts the open source projects built by [48] the group. The most notable one is Project Voldemort, a distributed key-value structured storage system with low-latency similar in purpose to Amazon's Dynamo and Google's BigTable.

References [1] http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/quickquote.html?ticker=lnkd [2] LinkedIn's IPO Filing: All The Long-Held Secrets You Want To Know (http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-s1) [3] http://www.linkedin.com/ [4] "Linkedin.com Site Info" (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/linkedIn.com). Alexa Internet. . Retrieved 2011-07-12. [5] "Linked-In—Profile" (http://www.thealarmclock.com/mt/archives/2004/08/linkedin_hq_mou.html). alarm:clock. August 6, 2004. . Retrieved January 17, 2008. [6] LinkedIn–About Us (http://press.linkedin.com/about) [7] LinkedIn Surpasses 100 Million Users [INFOGRAPHIC] (http://mashable.com/2011/03/22/ linkedin-surpasses-100-million-users-infographic/) [8] "Italians get a local flavour of LinkedIn" (http://press.linkedin.com/italy-launch-english). April 15, 2010. . Retrieved April 23, 2010. [9] "Look who’s talking Russian, Romanian and Turkish now!" (http://blog.linkedin.com/2011/06/21/russian-romanian-turkish). June 21, 2011. . Retrieved June 21, 2011. [10] "LinedIn" (http://www.quantcast.com/linkedin.com). quantcast.com. . Retrieved December 17, 2010. [11] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-08/linkedin-tops-myspace-to-become-second-largest-u-s-social-networking-site.html [12] Pepitone, Julianne (January 27, 2011). "LinkedIn files for IPO, reveals sales of $161 million" (http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/27/ technology/linkedin_ipo/index.htm). CNN<pmey. . Retrieved January 28, 2011. [13] "About LinkedIn: Management" (http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=management). Linkedin.com. . Retrieved December 7, 2009. [14] "Press Release about Sequoia Capital Investing in LinkedIn" (http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=investors). . Retrieved November 14, 2007.

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LinkedIn

[15] "Press Releases: LinkedIn Premium Services Finding Rapid Adoption" (http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=press_releases_030706). LinkedIn. March 7, 2006. . Retrieved December 7, 2009. [16] Swisher, Kara (January 27, 2011). "Here Comes Another Web IPO: LinkedIn S-1 Filing Imminent" (http://kara.allthingsd.com/ 20110127/here-comes-another-web-ipo-linkedin-s-1-filing-imminent/).Boom Town. . Retrieved January 27, 2011. [17] LinkedIn Crunchbase Profile (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/linkedin) [18] Guynn, Jessica (June 17, 2008). "LinkedIn networks way to $53-million investment" (http://www.latimes.com/business/ la-fi-linkedin18-2008jun18,0,6631759.story).The Los Angeles Times. . Retrieved June 17, 2008. [19] LinkedIn to open HQ in Dublin (http://www.insideireland.ie/index.cfm/section/news/ext/linkedin001/category/1091) [20] "Tiger Global Said to Invest in LinkedIn at $2 billion Valuation" (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-28/ tiger-global-said-to-invest-in-linkedin-at-2-billion-valuation.html).Bloomberg BusinessWeek. July 28, 2010. . Retrieved July 29, 2010. [21] Hardy, Quentin (August 4, 2010). "LinkedIn Hooks Up" (http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/03/ social-network-mspoke-technology-linkedin.html).Forbes. . Retrieved August 5, 2010. [22] "Does local beat global in the professional-networking business?" (http://www.economist.com/node/14931599).The Economist. November 19, 2009. . Retrieved August 5, 2010. [23] Fusfeld, Adam (September 23, 2010). "2010 Digital 100 Companies 1–100" (http://www.businessinsider.com/ 2010-digital-100-companies-1-100). businessinsider.com. . Retrieved December 17, 2010. [24] Demos, Telis; Menn, Joseph (January 27, 2011). "LinkedIn looks for boost with IPO" (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ 59e47ba4-2a54-11e0-b906-00144feab49a.html).Financial Times. . Retrieved January 28, 2011. [25] LinkedIn establishes IPO terms (http://www.renaissancecapital.com/ipohome/news/LinkedIn-establishes-IPO-terms-9550.html) Renaissance Capital [26] "LinkedIn's Stock Soars Amid Social Media Interest" (http://www.npr.org/2011/05/19/136466578/ linkedins-stock-soars-amid-social-media-interest). Associated Press. May 19, 2011. . [27] "LinkedIn has 5th largest first day gain in post bubble era" (http://www.renaissancecapital.com/ipohome/news/ LinkedIn-has-5th-largest-first-day-gain-in-post-bubble-era-9647.html).Renaissance Capital. May 19, 2011. . Retrieved May 19, 2011. [28] "LinkedIn competitor Viadeo hits 30 million members" (http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/05/11/ linkedin-competitor-viadeo-hits-30-million-members/). TechCrunch.com. May 11, 2010. . Retrieved July 25, 2010. [29] "Facts and Figures" (http://corporate.xing.com/deutsch/investor-relations/basisinformationen/fakten-und-zahlen/). XING. September 1, 2010. . Retrieved November 26, 2010. [30] "LinkedIn: 50 million professionals worldwide. LinkedIn. October 14, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2009" (http://blog.linkedin.com/ 2009/10/14/linkedin-50-million-professionals-worldwide/). Blog.linkedin.com. . Retrieved December 7, 2009. [31] "Four million UK professionals opt for a LinkedIn profile. Retrieved July 25, 2010" (http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/ 11062010-four-million-uk-professionals-opt-for-a-linkedin-profile/). bankingtimes.com. . Retrieved July 25, 2010. [32] "LinkedIn reaches 1 million users in Spain, competitors keep up the pressure. Retrieved July 25, 2010" (http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/ 07/21/linkedin_reaches_1_million_users_in_spain_competition_keeps_up_the_pressure/). eu.techcrunch.com. . Retrieved July 25, 2010. [33] Sid Yadav, venturebeat.com. " LinkedIn reaches 100 million users, but how many are coming back? (http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/22/ linkedin-reaches-100-million-users-but-how-many-are-coming-back/)." March 22, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011. [34] "Privacy Policy" (http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=pop_privacy_policy). LinkedIn. July 14, 2006. . Retrieved January 17, 2008. [35] "LinkedIn Answers unlocks the world’s best source of business knowledge: trusted professionals" (http://www.linkedin.com/ static?key=press_releases_011607). Linkedin.com. January 16, 2007. . Retrieved December 7, 2009. [36] "Social-networking site LinkedIN introduces mobile version" (http://life.tweakers.net/nieuws/52094/ social-networkingsite-linkedin-introduceert-mobiele-versie.html). tweakers.net. . Retrieved February 25, 2008. [37]LinkedIn DirectAds launch(http://shoutex.com/blog/linkedin-directads-google-adwords-ppc-1/), by Zaki Usman Nov 2008 [38] LinkedIn's promising new revenue model: sending you surveys. By: Neff, Jack, Advertising Age, 00018899, 10/27/2008, Vol. 79, Issue 40. Database: Business Source Complete [39]Facebook in a Suit: LinkedIn Launches Applications Platform(http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/10/ linkedin_launch.html), BusinessWeek, October 28, 2008 [40] "LinkedIn Adopts 'Recommend' Over 'Like'" (http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1866328/linkedin-adopts-recommend), Clickz.com, November 2, 2010 [41]CardMunch acquired by LinkedIn(http://shoutex.com/blog/cardmunch-iphone-app-for-business-users/), shoutEx.com Feb 2011 [42] Groups Directory | LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectory?results=&pplSearchOrigin=GLHD&keywords=) [43]“Five Benefits of LinkedIn for Organizations (and IT Pros) | TechRepublic.”Web. May 9, 2011. [44] O'Sullivan, James (2011), "Make the most of the networking tools that are available", Evening Echo, 09-May-11. Pg 32. [45] "Syria: Linkedin Kicks Off Syrian Users!" (http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/18/syria-linkedin-kicks-off-syrian-users/). Global Voices Advocacy. April 18, 2009. . Retrieved April 30, 2010. [46] Ungerleider, Neal (February 25, 2011). "China blocks access to LinkedIn" (http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/02/25/ china.blocks.linkedin.fastco/index.html?iref=NS1).Fast Company. . Retrieved February 25, 2011. [47] SNA-projects.com (http://sna-projects.com/) [48] Project-voldemort.com (http://project-voldemort.com/)

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External links • Official website (http://http://www.linkedin.com/) • SEC FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT (http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1271024/ 000119312511016022/ds1.htm)–LinkedIn's IPO filing

6