LinkedIn Pins Hopes on Economic Graph

September 29, 2013

Writer Rachel King at ZDNet shares some of LinkedIn’s strategy for the future in, “LinkedIn’s Long-Term Plan? Build the ‘World’s First Economic Graph,’ Says CEO.” The article describes this vision, which does sound interesting. We here at Beyond Search, though, could wish for more emphasis on search functionality, which seems to be a secondary issue for the professional networking site. Well, maybe tertiary.

King writes that LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner spoke about the company’s plans at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013. We learn from the article:

“Weiner described that LinkedIn’s current value lies its ‘professional graph,’ which explained maps the world’s professional connections through profiles and job listings. The long-term vision for the next decade, he continued, is to develop the world’s first ‘economic graph,’ or mapping the global economy digitally. ‘Increasingly, jobs are fragmented. They’re not always about full-time,’ Weiner reflected. ‘We’d like there to be a profile for every company in the world.’ . . .

“When asked by TechCrunch’s Eric Eldon about potential competitors (notably Facebook, Salesforce.com and Google) in regards to this economic graph, Weiner avoided dropping any names. But he responded that there is ‘no company right now that has the professional focus that we do.'”

Yes, LinkedIn’s focus on the professional realm is indeed what sets it apart. It is also moving into a pre-professional space, if you will, with its new university pages. The project, combined with an age limit that has been lowered to 13, aims to help students find a college that is right for them. The hope is that students who use that feature will stick with LinkedIn throughout their career. Some may complain that lowering the age limit diminishes the professionalism of the site. However, this tactic could help ensure LinkedIn’s relevance well into the future.

Cynthia Murrell, September 29, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under News, Social, Social Media

Comments

Comments are closed.

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.