There are many devoted fans of Facebook - and also many, though fewer, devoted users of LinkedIn. A question that often arises is: "Who will be the social networking winner in 2011 and beyond - Facebook or LinkedIn?" Turns out, it is the wrong question. It's kind of like asking: "What's better, a digital still camera, or a digital video camera?"
The answer is that each of these two devices has its own specific role in the marketplace, as well as in the mind of the customer, and one device is unlikely to dominate over the other device anytime soon.
The same holds true in the social networking space, re: Facebook vs. LinkedIn:
· each is succeeding in its stated mission – Facebook with 300+ million users and LinkedIn with 50+ million users
· Facebook and LinkedIn both have a different, but loyal following by an all-important mainstream marketplace
· Facebook is much bigger, and aimed at a “broader worldwide set of customers” (and probably younger demographic) -- that mixes work life, networking, and personal life with good safeguards in place – your friend from high school or college might be an example here. If you doubt they’d be happy without having Facebook as a social networking site + resource in 2010 – then they are likely part of this group.
· LinkedIn is obviously a smaller play at this point, and currently focused on a “narrower and more U.S.-centric set of customers” (and probably older demographic) -- that aims primarily at professional work life and networking, with lots of safeguards for the risk averse – like yours truly. I might be an example here, as I wouldn’t be happy without having LinkedIn as a social networking site + resource in 2010.
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Based on recent discussions and inputs from author Geoffrey Moore, and further thinking on the topic, it looks -- from my Chasm Institute view -- that Facebook and LinkedIn have:
· both crossed the “adoption” chasm and have gotten strong traction in their respective mainstream / pragmatist marketplaces …
· but what neither of them have done yet is cross the “monetization” chasm, as neither one is close to generating the profitable $’s needed to justify their hoped-for-future-mega-stock-value
· what if they each charged $1 per year for access ? or $1 per month ? or maybe $1 per week ? Based on our Chasm Institute market and customer models that we’ve been working with the past 15 years – all three of these options would be strategic pricing errors, though a different and likely smarter pricing strategy could work.
BTW – there’s also a third type of customer. A smaller group for sure, but it represents those who are frequent users of both Facebook and LinkedIn. Certainly not a majority of customers today.
So there are 3 types of social networking loyalists at this point – Facebookers, LinkedIners, and a hybrid blend of both. Let’s see how this all plays out in the next few years, since the IPO scorecard will be driven by how many users stay committed to Facebook or LinkedIn, once a serious monetization strategy is put into place by each of the 2 companies.
Fun stuff to think about.
Let me know your thoughts on this – I’d enjoy hearing from you.