vivi
Facebook for suits
Section: Business
Social networking
Websites that encourage business networking are thriving
Dateline: HAMBURG and MOUNTAIN VIEW
AMONG the few firms benefiting from the upheaval in the financial markets are professional social networks--websites that help with business networking and job-hunting. On LinkedIn, the market leader, members have been updating their profiles in record numbers in recent weeks, apparently to position themselves in case they lose their jobs. The two most popular sites, LinkedIn and Xing, have been growing at breakneck speed and boast 29m and 6.5m members respectively. And, in contrast to mass-market social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, both firms have worked out how to make money.
LinkedIn and Xing are similar in many ways. Both cater to youngish professionals with above-average income, and allow people to connect, keep track of each other's activities and create groups of common interest. Both are also profitable: since they help members find jobs or build their businesses, many users are willing to pay.
Yet the firms come from very different worlds. LinkedIn, a typical Silicon Valley start-up, was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman, a serial entrepreneur, to manage his own network of business contacts. Funded by venture capitalists, it recently secured $53m of funding in a deal that gave it a valuation of over $1 billion. Xing, for its part, hails from Hamburg, in Germany, and was founded in 2003 by Lars Hinrichs, another serial entrepreneur. It has relied on subscription fees since its launch, and it went public in 2006.
LinkedIn is culturally American, not just because English is the dominant language (there is also a Spanish version), but because it is still chiefly about advancing its members' careers, even if many other things get a look in. The company does not release numbers, but a big chunk of its estimated annual revenues of $100m in 2008 is said to come from headhunters and companies, which
Section: Business
Social networking
Websites that encourage business networking are thriving
Dateline: HAMBURG and MOUNTAIN VIEW
AMONG the few firms benefiting from the upheaval in the financial markets are professional social networks--websites that help with business networking and job-hunting. On LinkedIn, the market leader, members have been updating their profiles in record numbers in recent weeks, apparently to position themselves in case they lose their jobs. The two most popular sites, LinkedIn and Xing, have been growing at breakneck speed and boast 29m and 6.5m members respectively. And, in contrast to mass-market social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, both firms have worked out how to make money.
LinkedIn and Xing are similar in many ways. Both cater to youngish professionals with above-average income, and allow people to connect, keep track of each other's activities and create groups of common interest. Both are also profitable: since they help members find jobs or build their businesses, many users are willing to pay.
Yet the firms come from very different worlds. LinkedIn, a typical Silicon Valley start-up, was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman, a serial entrepreneur, to manage his own network of business contacts. Funded by venture capitalists, it recently secured $53m of funding in a deal that gave it a valuation of over $1 billion. Xing, for its part, hails from Hamburg, in Germany, and was founded in 2003 by Lars Hinrichs, another serial entrepreneur. It has relied on subscription fees since its launch, and it went public in 2006.
LinkedIn is culturally American, not just because English is the dominant language (there is also a Spanish version), but because it is still chiefly about advancing its members' careers, even if many other things get a look in. The company does not release numbers, but a big chunk of its estimated annual revenues of $100m in 2008 is said to come from headhunters and companies, which