LinkedIn, the social networking site no one has ever heard of, is not to be disregarded as bullshit, according to to Biznass Week. Now seems like a good time to mention that the two companies are partners.
Anywho, LinkedIn wants to establish that they are far from being buried by Facebook and are not has-beens. Personally, I think of it more as a never-was, but you know, tomayto, tomahto.
Indeed, Nielsen numbers are supporting their whining, and show them to be growing at a faster rate than Facebook. However, it seems to me if 98% of the world is already on Facebook, it's sort of inevitable for growth to slow, after a while. LinkedIn's attempt to stay relevant is centered around adding a bunch of modules and other nonsense to personalize your page. I'm not on Facebook, but I'm pretty sure they do the same exact thing. Still, now would be a good time for LinkedIn to try to get themselves out there, since Facebook is getting some bad press, lately. If I were LinkedIn, I would just focus on distinguishing LinkedIn as different from Facebook and the rest, simply because it serves a very different purpose:
"Facebook is mostly for socializing with people you already know, while LinkedIn is for meeting people you don’t know, for professional purposes, through people you do know."
However, this was a mere parenthetical in the article, and glosses over the one thing about the site that makes it somewhat interesting. But, what do I know? I'm just a dumb semi-anonymous Blogger Blogspot blogger who falls into the exact demographic to which these networking sites must appeal in order to survive.
Considering the amount of shit I've gotten lately for not having a Facebook account-- I keep trying to tell my peer pressurers that, while I am flattered, I am straight-- this story makes me extra glad that I've resisted persuasion. Honestly, if you're spending time actually forming an argument on why someone else is lame for refusing to join a stupid website that's a poor substitute for real interaction, you're the loser. Admittedly, I did fall for it when I was talked into joining MySpace a couple of years ago by a friend; but, now that MySpace's 15 minutes as THE "social networking" site du jour are up, I kind of like it. Now that no one's into it any more, I have to say The Space has gotten way less obnoxious for me somehow. And now, it seems MySpace doesn't seem to spy on you quite as much as Facebook does, let alone report your activities on third party sites back to the friends in your network (even when you're not logged on to Facebook). So, MySpace is indeed looking like the less creepy option. Furthermore, Facebook will still log this information after you've gone through their unnecessarily complicated process to opt out of having your activities tracked-- which by the way, offers no comprehensive way to opt out of their user tracking program wholesale. In other words, there is no real way to tell them to knock off big brothering your ass. Score one for Friendster, MySpace and the rest, I guess. Don't get me wrong, all of these networking sites are beyond brokeback and moreover, an extremely bleak harbinger of my generation's approach toward life, friendships and relationships. However, I regret to say these sites are here to stay, like herpes. I'm 100% more likely to delete my one account than I am to join an additional site, simply because the two years one particular site has to be all the rage has expired and the trend mandates that I join MyFriendsFace now, if I want to fit in. I've never been cool, anyway. Why start now?
