FreshNetworks Blog

At FreshNetworks we distinguish between Online Networks, which are centred on a ‘me’, and Online Communities, which are centred on an ‘us’. Whilst the two types of site may have similar features, the simple way to distinguish between them is that Networks tend to be organised by person - photos, messages etc (think of Facebook), whereas Communities are organised on issues, common themes or interests (think of Tripdvisor). Until today, LinkedIn fell firmly in the Network camp. It was a business social networking site that was very much about the ‘me’ - with profiles as virtual CVs and contacts as your virtual roledex.

But, today, LinkedIn took all the data and information it gathers and helped it to restructure how you use the site. It made it more of a community (see TechCrunch for the breaking news). The breakthrough is to structure LinkedIn by company and not individual. I can now search for company profiles. Based on data that individuals contribute to their own pages, but presented to me not as individuals but as the company as a whole.

On one hand this allows us to know data on the company’s employees. For instance I can tell you that the company I work for (FreshMinds) has employees with an average age of 26 and is 61% female (see our LinkedIn Company profile here). Of course I could probably have told you this by looking around the office. Of more interest might be to do the kind of analysis that the San Francisco Chronical has done (reported in the Social Media blog here), letting us know things such as the average age of Facebook employees (27) and the most popular destination for people who leave Yahoo! (Google).

Undoubtedly, this is a mine of useful information for researchers and recruiters alike (although it is only as accurate as the number of people from a particular company on LinkedIn allows) and Dan York explains his thoughts on this as a data mining tool here. I agree with this, but think it is a significant shift for LinkedIn in a different way. It is the start of a shift from the profile-based, personal-detail reliant Network style of navigation to one based on common interests. It is making LinkedIn more of a Community. It should make it easier to find and relate to colleagues (old and new). Companies can use the data to benchmark themselves against their peers, or indeed to find data on their own employees in a quick and easy fashion (how many keep accurate and detailed statistics on career routes after people leave). And recruiters can keep track of hires and promotions across their industry.

From a useful individual site; LinkedIn is developing into a powerful group tool.