LinkedIn flunks the interview

Critiquing #LinkedIn may feel a little dishonourable, given that we have successfully recruited through its good offices. But clients often ask SAW ‘whither goest social media’, so it behooves us to wade into these murky waters when called upon to do so by signal events.

And by anyone’s standards, LinkedIn’s fall from stock market grace is a signal event. What does it tell us?

It tells us that the cost of entry to create a social media platform for B2B, especially recruitment, is not that high. See just one new competitor here and another here. Warning: Moving from a LinkedIn page to these pages may make you feel as though you are time travelling.

The stock rejection letter tells us many things: that, by the fast-moving standards of 2016, the look and feel of LinkedIn is decidedly old school; that LinkedIn’s functionality leaves a lot to be desired, especially switching from personal profile to admin; it tells us that Premium is farcically overpriced.

LinkedIn looked good on paper. But in the interview, it failed to impress. It applied for the job that was open 10 years ago.

And as Somewhere.com and TheMuse.com reveal, it makes absolute sense for recruitment sites to become increasingly narrow in their focus. Why look for jobs on any old site, when an architect can look on an architecture site or a carpenter on a trades site? Specialization tends to eat generalization. (We know that’s a generalization about generalization but nobody’s perfect.)

Recent stock market concern over @Twitter also reveals the fracturing of stock market confidence in the ability of social media to monetize itself. Recruitment agencies are fighting back. Large companies with broad reach can use other channels to link with potential candidates; increasingly, sites tap into bolt-on apps that are clunky, but probably no worse than LinkedIn.

Imagine how attractive LinkedIn would be to ordinary users (job-seekers) with even more advertising …

Back to clients who are concerned that they are not investing enough in social media. Recent reality checks for the twitterverse and the University of LinkedIn throw the emphasis onto social in the phrase social media. Old media, circa 2000, were primarily funded by advertising. Recruitment advertising was a big part of that; surely, broadcast media would like to win back its share.

We predict that online versions of the old media, such as newspapers, will begin to eat LinkedIn’s lunch. But they will not be alone. Facebook will have its jaws full, maybe Twitter, and all the niche start-ups from Palo Alto to Vladivostok. Perhaps universities will step into the fray. Or virtual head-hunting will appear like an Uber from the undergrowth. Heaven help the LinkedIn shareholders if Google glances at recruitment advertising. It will look like a scene from a safari documentary — with LinkedIn as the once uncatchable gazelle, taken down by a pack of hyenas.

In social media, SAW’s money is on the hyenas.