by Adrian C. Ott




Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with Dan Nye, CEO of Linkedin.  Also presenting
was Allen Blue, one of the founders and currently VP of Product Strategy.

According to Dan, the key benefit of their community is their demographic namely:

White collar Professionals
Average age: 41
78% college graduates 
Avg. Household income  $106,065

With over sixteen million members today, Dan indicated that they are growing at 1 million members
per month.  Indeed the demographics of this community are impressive. 

After listening to this presentation, what is also clear to me is that the strategic moves they make in
the next year will be a key to their survival.  Here's why:

Linkedin's professional demographic presents an opportunity and a challenge.  

Professionals are ADHD.  Between work and family, professionals have the most demands
on their time. College and High School students don't necessarily have such constraints.  Professionals 
shift their attention and energy to a community only if they see significant return.

Today, Linkedin enjoys limited Share of Customer Time (tm).  Although sixteen million professionals
are listed, it is just that.   Dan referred to it as "Resume 2.0."  This is an accurate term. Most people
I know are too busy to go beyond that,  many users tend to be passive  "It is a handy backup if I need to find
a contact," stated one of my colleagues. 

The attraction factor for key communities are:

           Linkedin - Professionals seeking new jobs or sales relationships
           FaceBook - Dating, Social
           MySpace  - Dating Social, Small business
           Plaxo - Address book

Facebook and MySpace hold higher Share of Customer Time (tm) because there is an emotional tie to
meet with friends.  It keeps bringing people back.  The average time spent per day on these sites is incredible.

Professional image is everything on Linkedin.  Everything is arms-length.  Why?   Potential employers are
there.  Executives with the ability to promote are there. 

Key question is whether Linkedin can move its audience up  the participation ladder while
maintaining trust that hopes, fears and weaknesses shared among friends and colleagues won't be shared with potential employers.  It is not clear if the two can successfully mix. 

Bottom Line: Linkedin needs a killer application that creates higher Share of Customer Time (tm). 

Linkedin should explore different kinds of applications to attract professionals and differentiate their offering.
I am not talking about stock quotes, calendars and clocks.  It must be bigger than that to hold such an
ADHD audience.

Most promising is that Dan indicated that they are partnering with companies like SalesForce.com and
the Wall Street Journal.  They may be developing Customer Value Networks that serve customers
with the same demographic.  

To manage their limited resources and to ensure the right value proposition, LinkedIn should engage in 
detailed customer activity mapping to identify customer touchpoints, valued brands, and gaps for their
customer segments.  Once mapped they can identify solutions and ideal partners that serve this
highly-sought-after community to create a killer app. 

Increasing Share of Customer Time (tm) is key to their survival.   It is easy to move a resume. 
It is hard to move an active social community to a new service. 

I appreciated the meeting with Dan Nye and his team.  I wish them all the best in their journey next year.
 


Food for Thought: What are you doing to increase Share of Customer Time (tm) for your corporate
communities?  Is there attraction that brings them back?

[Full Disclosure: Exponential Edge offers Share of Customer Time (tm) behavior mapping and strategic alliance services.]