Friday, July 06, 2007

Will Facebook kill Linked-In?

my network is bigger than yours” attitude. By contrast Facebook users are more laid-back and you get to know more personal stuff about them.

8 comments:

Eugene D. Gibson said...

I agree with you but isn't that how their makers have marketed it?

Joël Céré said...

You mean Facebook? I agree.

Anonymous said...

Can't say that I agree with you. Personally I prefer LinkedIn over Facebook, just because it's more focus on business functions, and less widgets, zombie bites, tv-shows, group invitations.

The two sites fills two completely different purposes

Joël Céré said...

The two sites initally filled different purposes (although that could be argued as well) but recently people are using Facebook more for business networking, which directly compete with Linked-In's focus.

Anonymous said...

I would say they still fill different purposes. I don't argue that Facebook can be used for business networking and social networking. But it requires more work for the user. An option with less work would be using two sites.

This is of course my very personal opinion, and I my world there is room for two networking sites. The question is if the users are as picky as me when it comes to focused purpose of the site and functions. Perhaps not.

Joël Céré said...

The question of how many network can one user cope with is a good point too. I am spending most time on Linked-In and Facebook but I would be less keen to invest time in another network. I registered to quite a few, either for research or through invitations but somehow it feels like I would be spreading my network too thin. Concentration allows for easier connections and references between people.

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with you Joel regarding the number of contacts. What's more, I've been debating this for years with people.

I also agree with johnny go that there's room for more than one network (I'm a member of dozens and I actively use about four). LinkedIn is really useful as an online Rolodex, whereas I don't use FB for business and don't plan to (I reject requests to join businessy clubs).

My personal limit is about 350 people on any given network and I actively 'manage' that number, staying in touch with most of them - the LinkedIn Outlook tool is particularly useful in this - although I admit I've got a couple of 'contact collectors' so that I can access their networks.

One last thing: if you're receiving spamagrams on LinkedIn, change your personal settings. I used to, but never do now.

Joël Céré said...

350! Borderline case ;-)