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Written on 2nd December 2008
0 COMMENTS 
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
As Boris reported a few weeks ago, LinkedIn is doing well in these harsh economic times. People fueled by angst surf around the service to get in touch with headhunters. An example from Japan learns us that there’s another successful business opportunity for times like these: fortune telling.
Worried Japanese Internet users surf to Zappallas’ fortune-telling websites to find some reassurance in crystal balls, tarot readings, I-ching and horoscopes. These mobile sites have names like “Your Future in Three Months” and “Certain Fate”. All together, they stirred a 61 percent rise in net first-half profit.
The group which spends most time on finding reassurance? Women between 20 years to 34 years old. Not a bad target group…
Reuters notes the commercial success of Zappallas:
Registered users, who pay a set monthly fee, climbed 21 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 million at the end of October. That’s even as consumers rein in spending on new mobile phones and PCs, which they use to click on Zappallas’s 443 sites.
“Fortune telling is content that has been around for thousands of years,” said Zappallas spokeswoman Kumiko Wada to Reuters. “We now treat it as a bit of fun, but there’s depth and a history there of people turning to it for guidance in tough times.”
So if you were looking for a money machine, you might try the ancient art of fortune telling. You might some people gifted with the craft of tarrot and hand reading on LinkedIn.
Written on 11th November 2008
3 COMMENTS
Paul Vereijken, Next Web Journalism & Media editor
Ever had the feeling that you really wanted to crash the party you weren’t allowed at? When I wrote a blogpost about social network MeettheBoss.com I couldn’t let go of that feeling. MeettheBoss.com wants to be an exclusive social network. To become a member of the network you have to be a senior or top executive at a financial firm. So for a freelance journalist like me there is only one option to get in: lying.
"Your registration has been accepted."
Surprisingly lying worked out very well. All I did was fill in the registration pages. I filled in my name, e-mail address and told the site that I was working as a CCO at ABN AMRO. A few minutes later I could check out some parts of the network but still not everything.
Got kicked out eventually
I guessed they would reject me at one point. If they would have looked at my LinkedIn profile they would have known right away that I’m not a CCO. But they probably didn’t do that. One day after my registration I received an e-mail telling that the network was happy to let me know that my registration had been accepted.
How long would it take them to find out I ain’t a CCO? Not too long. My previous blogpost probably caught their eyes because since this morning I can’t login anymore. It looks like they kicked me out after all…
MeettheBoss: could not find your user
Written on 7th November 2008
7 COMMENTS
Guest blogger, sharing views on The Next Web
Written by Paul Vereijken
It sure isn’t surprising that social networks like LinkedIn are adding new users by the second thanks to the credit crunch. But read this: social network MeettheBoss.com says it has attracted 25.000 active members within two months. And those users sure aren’t the average LinkedIn member. They are senior and top executives at large financial firms.
According to their website and an article in the International Herald Tribune, it looks like MeettheBoss.com wants to become the number one network and forum for executives at company’s like Barclays, Goldman Sachs and ING.
Not just connecting
Registered MeettheBoss.com users can participate in discussions about the crisis, but also about how web 2.0 technology could be implemented in products and services. These big boys can also use (peer-to-peer) video conferencing, IM, e-mail and sms to interact and – of course – connect with other members. At MeettheBoss.tv members can watch interviews with industry hotshots and thought-leaders.
Exclusive network
The Bristol, England, based network is founded by Spencer Green, chairman of publisher and event organiser GDS International that owns MeettheBoss.com. The network was launched in September ’08 when they invited their first 20.000 members. To keep the network exclusive it intends to close its doors at 50.000 members.
Closed doors
I wish I could check if everything MeettheBoss.com promises is true. But to become a member of the network you have to be a senior or top executive. So if you’re working as a developer, web 2.0 consultant or if you’re an entrepreneur that probably means this network keeps its doors closed for you. And for journalists like me too.
Have a peak
Or wouldn’t they? Of course I tried to get in and I filled in the forms to create an account. Surprisingly I got in.
I couldn’t check out everything the network has to offer. Still I got more than just a peek. I was able to login at MeettheBoss.tv and check out some interviews with experts in the financial market. After a few clicks I was scanning the discussions between members talking mostly about the crisis. But when I tried to connect with other members the network just returned error messages telling me my account wasn’t approved yet. Damn.
Written on 2nd November 2008
0 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
This is something new: yesterday I received an email from Frans Ekman, co-founder of PiX ‘n’ PaLs. He sent me a blog post about his company, which I could either copy/ paste or modify. That approach makes the blogger’s life easier.
Anyhow, I’ve chosen a different approach. Mainly because I have some critical remarks on PiX ‘n’ PaLS. The idea is pretty good, as I can imagine my family and friends using it:
The core idea is to document your life together with your friends in a collaborative way. Your life, or “The Story of Your Life”, consists of events that you have participated in. An event can be for example a wedding, a party, a vacation or any important happening in your life. Any user can create a new event and invite the people who participated, so that everyone can post their photos and memories to the same place.
You can also publish your “life story” on any blog or social network. Good idea. Nice alternative for the outdated phenomenon known as a photo album. Yet I don’t feel like subscribing.., again.
I don’t want to go through all the hassle of inviting friends and family, building another profile and transferring all the photos I already have on Flickr and Facebook to PiX ‘n’ PaLs.
Connect different social networks
Instead, I’d love to integrate the idea of PiX ‘n’ PaLs in existing friends and family networks like Facebook or sites like MyHeritage. Maybe in the form of a Facebook app or some sort of aggregator which also slurps up my existing contacts and users.
The idea behind the Finnish bootstrapping project of Frans Ekman and Jarl Törnroos is worth another look. Building a whole new social network based on photo sharing is not the way to go. People are used to the superb UI and experience of networks like LinkedIn and (until recently) Facebook and there’s no way you can compete with that – unless you’re a extremely talented designer. Instead, I’d gladly accept the challenge of finding ways to connect existing social networks to make life documentation possible.
Written on 29th October 2008
8 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
His research concluded that trying to control the use of sites such as Facebook, which alone boasts more than 100 million users worldwide, could even harm organizations.
This is a line from a news message Reuters pumped in the blogosphere today. Obviously, we can expect a lot of blog coverage about this matter. It’s saying exactly what we, early adopters, already knew: companies shouldn’t think you can control social networks. Better try to benefit from them.
British think-tank knows better
Demos, a British think-tank, studied the effects of social networking on business. Author Peter Bradwell concludes that when employees gossip, talk and share photos on Facebook, MySpace and others – it could actually benefit firms. It’s all part of professional networking and helps people keeping in touch with colleagues and customers.
However, there should be practical guidelines to limit non-work usage – Bradwell said. But blocking is not the way to go: “Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counterintuitive, but it appears to create business more capable of maintaining stability.”
“Banning Facebook and the like goes against the grain of how people want to interact. Often people are friends with colleagues through these networks and it is how some develop their relationships.”
How can companies get the most out of Facebook?
Demos doesn’t give firms any practical tips on how to get the most out of Facebook. Maybe we can get some together in the comments here. Moving some of the business related communication to a certain network might stimulate the right usage. But with my zero corporate experience, I think you guys should do the talking.
Written on 29th October 2008
5 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Now that LinkedIn has gathered 30 million members in its professional network, the Mountain View-based company wants to go beyond just connecting. Last night it introduced nine applications with which LinkedIn users can “communicate, collaborate, and share”. Reid Hoffman writes on the corporate blog:
This initial roll out features productivity applications that range from gathering information that professionals around you are generating to enhancing your abilities to collaborate and communicate more effectively. You’ll be able to work much more closely with your contacts on LinkedIn with tools such as file sharing, project management, business trips and many more.
The email sent to all users contains a good overview of the new features:
Work collaboratively with your network.
- Box on LinkedIn: Share files and collaborate with your network.
- Huddle on LinkedIn: Private workspaces to collaborate with your network on projects.
Share information and keep up to date with your network.
- Amazon on LinkedIn: Discover what your network is reading.
- TripIt on LinkedIn: See where your network is traveling.
- SixApart on LinkedIn: Stay up to date with your network’s latest blog posts.
Present yourself and your work in new ways.
Google Docs on LinkedIn: Embed a presentation on your profile.
SlideShare on LinkedIn: Share, view and comment on presentations from your network.
WordPress on LinkedIn: Promote your blog and latest posts.
Come on, the difference is so salient
It seems like LinkedIn is moving in the direction. Many blogs try to pinpoint the differences between the two networking giants. I think it’s rather simple: LinkedIn is Facebook without drunken pics and therefore better suited for professional relations.
Written on 28th October 2008
7 COMMENTS
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
In 1999 one analyst suggested that everybody invest in companies that made bubble wrap. He figured that with the huge growth of e-commerce the companies who would benefit the most were bubble wrap companies. Go figure.
Now, with the current economy there are surely companies who are benefiting, right? Right!
One such company is LinkedIn. Last week they announced a $22.7 million funding round which explains the huge smile on their CEO’s face on the right here.
Dan Nye has even more to smile about. Since the economic crisis hit in September LinkedIn has seen a 25% increase in the rate of sign-ups! All over the world concerned employees are updating their digital resumés and strengthening their ties to headhunters and other useful contacts.
Before September LinkedIn had maintained a growth rate of about one new member every two seconds, or 1 million new users about every 20 days. Not bad at all! Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September the growth rate had increased to 1 million new users every two weeks. Suddenly that $ 22.7 million round makes a lot of sense. They are clearly worth it!
LinkedIn has 30 million users worldwide and of those 30 million about 7 million are based in Europe. In the time you read that last sentence (3 seconds?) LinkedIn added 2 new members. Another member. And another. You get the idea. That was two more…
P.S. why not yoin our group on LinkedIn while you are updating your resumé? Will make you look intelligent and innovative. Really!
Written on 26th October 2008
7 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Since February, I’ve regularly praised the marketing efforts of MySpace in Europe. Just like Facebook, Bebo, LinkedIn, and several other services, they desperately tried to get some of the ever growing European social network pie. Yesterday however, MySpace realized that they will never taste the sweetness of the Dutch cake.
All of the American giants face fierce competition of regional social networks like StudiVZ (Germany), Netlog (West-Europe and Turkey), Amiz (France), Hyves (Holland), and Bahu (Mediterranean countries). These networks were the first ones to lure folks into the online social world. People have gone through all the trouble of connecting to their friends. So why would they – all of a sudden – switch to an international version? (More on that here)
A Murdoch-owned company respecting cultural differences
Myspace NL launch
Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace all have different approaches, of which I like the MySpace one the best. Whenever Murdoch’s web 2.0 experiment launches a local version, MySpace installs a local team who knows what’s hot and what’s not in the country and throw a great party. In March I wrote:
I’d thought I would never say this about a company owned by Murdoch but here we go: It feels like MySpace respects the cultural differences more and really wants to make an effort. I hope it will pay off.
Hail Hyves
Well, in Holland it didn’t. Dutch news site Webwereld reports that MySpace Netherlands throws the towel. Country Manager Holland Derek Fehmers told Entertainment Business that when he entered the market in February, he realized Holland was tough. “We arrived pretty late and had a large competitor which was hard to fight”.
That large competitor would be Hyves. More then 33% percent of the Dutch have registered to this social network.
MySpace Holland made a connection between the offline and online world by organizing parties with local bands. Unfortunately this original and cool approach wasn’t profitable enough. The 650.000 registered Dutch users will now just have language support. The local content is history.
[Photo credit: Polle de Maagt]
Written on 8th September 2008
1 COMMENT
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
With a network of more than 25 million family members worldwide, 25 language versions, more than 260 million profiles, and 230 million photos, Tel Aviv-based myHeritage claims to be the “second largest online destination for families”. These impressive numbers come from a press release, issued yesterday, in which the company announces a $15 million funding round from London-based Index Ventures and Accel Partners. Index Ventures’ Saul Klein seems ecstatic, saying in the release that he believes “it has the potential to become as important to families as Facebook is for friends and LinkedIn is for professional relationships.”
MyHeritage is now certainly the largest when it comes to funding. One of its main competitors Geni, for example, has raised $11.5 million in total, which is less than half of myHeritage’s total funding ($24 million). The genealogy company will be using the investment to expand the team, establish commercial operations in London and develop new technologies.
A technology myHeritage has just launched is a face-recognizing feature. When users upload or import (e.g. from Flickr) a photo, the technology automatically checks who the depicted person is (as long as he or she is looking into the lens). That means a lot less tagging, you’ll have a machine to do that. MyHeritage will group photos with the same person on it, so that every family member’s vanity need is satisfied. Not a bad idea from myHeritage, which currently hosts around 230 million photos on its own site.
Written on 3rd September 2008
11 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Yesterday a business student interviewed me for his master thesis about the perceived trustworthiness within social networking sites. He wanted to know how I shaped my judgments about people on LinkedIn. His last question blew me away, although is was very simple. “How will LinkedIn be evolved in five years?”. I had never really thought about this. After a few minutes, I realized my LinkedIn network will be quite useless then. When we were discussing this devaluation, we both acknowledged it had two main reasons. We’re too friendly, and a lot of people go separate ways.
We’re too friendly
LinkedIn tries very hard to convince us not to accept people we hardly know with their explanatory “Which invitations should you accept?” link. According to this page, we have to consider replying or deciding later when we don’t know the sender well. Fair enough, but you’re not gonna reject that guy with who you had a nice chat during a conference? Most of us are too friendly. We don’t want to offend the chap who invites you to connect. What do we have to lose anyway?
Separate ways
Of all these people we accept, quite a few make sudden career moves to a totally different industry or stop working at all. Some might even die. These occurrences make some of our connections useless. After a while, say five years, a whole lot of connections are not relevant anymore. They can’t help us with questions, because there out of the game for quite some time, or they have left everything business-related behind.
The network will lose its value
So in five years, your first grade network will be as cluttered as your third grade network is now. You’ve forgotten who half of the people are, and from some, you’ll never hear again. Moreover, have you ever thought about how many contacts you’ll have by then. A few thousand maybe? To sum it up: your network will become quite useless. LinkedIn will evolve in something else, a phone book on steroids.
LinkedIn as the ultimate phone book
I assume you’ll keep your profile up to date, so will other people who take LinkedIn seriously. That will make LinkedIn a rather great phone book. You can always look up ANYONE, as the chance is really big this person will have registered on LinkedIn by then. The value of the resume stays in touch. The ways of contacting people as well. There’s just thing that will be pretty useless, the graph showing you’re connected to this person trough 132321 other people.
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