Why not? Free tools that allow us to socialize, stalk ex’s, and share experiences? But Facebook and Twitter have real costs to keep the sites up and provide that functionality. For social networks to keep the momentum, they need to find ways to generate revenue. Could LinkedIn hold the secret to creating these streams, even if they themselves aren’t maximizing it?
Let’s consider a few facts (at least what suffices for facts these days):
- Advertising revenue seems to be the only tried and true model. Facebook is estimated to make $550 million in 2009. A lopsided $475 mil of that is expected to come from advertising revenue.
- Twitter, the darling of social society, is still mulling ideas for revenue models. And they’re clear to not rule out advertising.
- LinkedIn, the Jan of the virtual Brady family, is reportedly in the black via their three-prong revenue approach.
What asset does LinkedIn have that the other social sites don’t? Robust graphs of connections between people. The value isn’t the profiles it contains, but rather the grid of connections that help you understand how you’re linked to other people. And because it’s a professional site, people are more apt to link into a wider graph of people than say Facebook, where more personal information is stored.
But in my opinion, LinkedIn does not leverage this asset. Their widgets allow for you to show connections keyed on specific companies or to link to the public profile of the individual, however the connection to them is hid behind a login or at least one click away.
What if an API or widget allowed developers to leverage the social graphs stored within LinkedIn to help encourage peer-to-peer recommendations or conversations?
Examples:
- You go to a realtor site where you have normally look at pictures to see who looks like someone you can work with. But with the super-duper LinkedIn integration, you can see how you’re connected to each realtor. Oh, Sally knows my friend Jake? Well maybe I’ll work with Sally.
- Or you want a new dentist and can run a reverse-lookup that brings all your friends dentists (that they self-disclose) back in a search result. Oh man, Joanna has nice teeth, I’m going with her dentist.
- Take it a step further where Facebook Connect could be cross-bred with the LinkedIn API so a user could post a request to know what insurance people use not only to their Facebook friends, but reach two or three degrees beyond.
If LinkedIn loosens up their API access policies (right now they have set widgets with the ability to request new ones) and developers of other sites look at creative ways to integrate the social graph, the could be an additional revenue model for LinkedIn (licensing) and online networks. Huh, Reid? Can it be done?
Basics: