LinkedIn InApps - 2008 Review

LinkedIn launched its Intelligent Applications (InApps) developer platform on October 28th, 2008. InApps is widely considered to be LinkedIn's "answer" to the Facebook Platform. AllFacebook covered InApps from its initial rumors. We have eagerly followed InApps' evolution as an important member of the OpenSocial initiative whose successes would also help Google, MySpace, Hi5 and others in their efforts to compete with Facebook's third party developer platform. As 2008 comes to a close, we don't believe that the current incarnation of InApps will help LinkedIn truly compete with Facebook user engagement and third party developer participation. OpenSocial developers who created applications for InApps did not innovate based on LinkedIn's core strengths relative to Facebook, and LinkedIn itself seems hesitant to truly follow Facebook's lead based on potential conflicts between InApps and its established business model. We would like to share with our readers our review of LinkedIn' InApps as 2008 comes to a close. We also provide an overview of LinkedIn itself to provide our Facebook audience with context for our analysis. Immediately below are highlights for the casual reader: SocialTimes' 2008 review finds that InApps has: Tame Networking: Current applications don't leverage LinkedIn members' ability to discover people based on three degrees of separation and to forge relationships via LinkedIn's industry leading tools. Limited Virality: InApps seemed promise to implement the viral messaging channels defined in OpenSocial, but we find little evidence of this becoming a reality. Developer Drawbacks: LinkedIn selected a limited number of launch partners whose apps operate on the surface level or completely behind the scenes, and the InApps launch is characterized by technical challenges. How can we judge "InApps 2008"? It may seem unfair to judge InApps for "2008" based on its two months live. Please keep in mind that LinkedIn has been working on the InApps platform in a high profile fashion since 2007. LinkedIn's efforts and marketing related to InApps caused a major buzz in the OpenSocial community. LinkedIn holds the promise of a 30+ million member social network that will pioneer a new class of utility apps - all built using the OpenSocial 0.8 specification. InApps' release, although it occurred towards end of 2008, should be reviewed as the result of a full year of effort on the part of LinkedIn and the OpenSocial developer community the social network is seeking to create. Networking on LinkedIn LinkedIn is a business social network. Connections between members represent business relationships forged offline. This charter is similar to Facebook, as both social networks maintain they are comprised of real nodes (people) who share real connections resulting in real social activity. LinkedIn and Facebook both require that their users connect based on what they have in common, and that both members agree that they know each other when they connect based on those affinities. LinkedIn is in many ways more powerful networking tool than Facebook, however, because of how it allows members to search for, connect with and work with each other. LinkedIn enables people to view any other members who are within three degrees of separation from each other on their respective social graphs. This results in an amazing network multiplier effect, expanding one's view of others' profiles by up to 15,000 times the number of direct connections in the case of a super user (see below). This network multiplier trounces Facebooks's relatively rigid use of employer, school, geography and affinity groups. This reflects LinkedIn and Facebook's different focus on creating business value vs. strengthening friend relationships. Connecting on LinkedIn LinkedIn allows members to establish connections via a variety of invite methods, depending on your professed relationship with the member. Here is how to connect based on your relationship with the member: Colleague LinkedIn requires that members have worked at the same company before, and provides a drop down menu of company names from which to select that are pulled from your profile. This invite can be sent without an email address for that contact. Classmate LinkedIn requires that members went to the same school, and provides a drop down menu of schools names from which to select that are pulled from your profile. This invite can be sent without an email address for that contact. " We've done business together" LinkedIn requires that the invitation be sent with the company name where you did business together, and provides a drop down menu of company names from which to select that are pulled from your profile. This invite can be sent without an email address for that contact. Friend LinkedIn requires that you provide an email address in order to send an invite and connect with a "friend." Groups & Associations LinkedIn requires that the invitation be sent with the group or association you share, and provides a drop down menu of groups and associations from which to select that are pulled from your profile. This invite can be sent without an email address for that contact. "Other" LinkedIn requires that your provide an email address in order to send an invite and connect with someone whose relationship you characterize as "other." Email Address Upload Similar to most social networks and Web 2.0 apps, LinkedIn allows users to upload email address books from a variety of sources in order to discover existing connections or to extend invites to join and connect for people not currently using LinkedIn. Changes to LinkedIn Invite Process LinkedIn initially required an email address in order to send an invite. We see their removing this limit for work and school to be a response to the success of Facebook's friend request policies. LinkedIn controls invite spam by giving members the option to say "I don't know this person" when they receive a invite to connect. If a member is flagged as a potential spammer through this feedback mechanism, LinkedIn requires them to supply the email address of their contacts to send future invitations. Messaging on LinkedIn Messaging is where LinkedIn truly differentiates itself from Facebook. LinkedIn specializes in helping people connect with others via messages. Messaging is a tightly controlled, usually premium feature of LinkedIn. The juxtaposition of member needs and LinkedIn's business goals results in a maze of options for exploring and leveraging members within your three degrees of contacts. LinkedIn users are able to send messages to members of their own personal network. People can send a variety of select categories of personal messages (questions for experts, job notifications) and can share LinkedIn content (profiles, job postings, etc.) with people in their direct network. Contacting people you know is not that exciting because it simply mirrors the ability to write and send emails to their own business contacts - though the interface really helps the organized to streamline things. Messaging members who are outside of your direct network is where things get interesting and is the source of three critical drivers for the company: 1) premium service fees and 2) incentives for network expansion and 3) fostering valuable business activity between members. Network Referrals When you discover people's profiles within your three degrees of separation LinkedIn, LinkedIn also shows you how you relate to that person via their social graph. Members can then ask their own direct contacts to forward a request across the social graph. One can request a contact share a consulting opportunity with one of their connections who you identified as having the required expertise, for example. Your friend, and (if its to a third degree connection) a friend of a friend will forward your request with a personalized note. This critical feature is maintained as a scarce resource by LinkedIn, with limits the number of network referrals you can have in play at any one time. InMails InMails are a premium feature of LinkedIn. InMails allow members to send messages people who are outside of their own personal network, discovered within three degrees of separation on LinkedIn's social graph. This is a very powerful feature, and is the primary reason people upgrade to a premium monthly subscription on LinkedIn. Package pricing includes $49.95 for 10 InMails per month and $499.95 for 50 InMails per month. InMails are also perishable, with your allotted number of allowed InMails disappearing if unused after a period of time. If you exceed you allowance, additional InMails can be purchased for $10 an InMail message. OpenLink Messages OpenLink membership is an opt in option for premium monthly subscribers of LinkedIn. Members who join OpenLink receive a icon that is displayed on their profile and are highlighted with the icon in search results. OpenLink users can contact one another directly for free, without using one of their InMails to reach people outside of their direct network. OpenLink members cannot send each other invitations to connect, however, without a multi-message exchange of request for email addresses, permissions, etc. that operates essentially outside of LinkedIn's rule that connections must really know each other. Group Messages LinkedIn allows members of groups to contact each other directly with messages. LinkedIn only really launched the groups feature in late 2007. In late 2008, LinkedIn enabled group users to search within groups, start group message threads and contact group member who fall outside of their direct network for free (i.e. no InMail fees) and without a shared contact as an intermediary. Group messaging features are a real departure from LinkedIn's tight control over messaging, and will cannibalize InMail and OpenLink related premium fees as groups increase in popularity. InApps Overview LinkedIn invites companies to suggest applications to them for consideration as part of InApps. LinkedIn emphasizes that apps should be serious business utilities, and is now notorious for saying there will be no "throwing of sheep" as on Facebook. The companies selected to become part of a private beta of InApps then work in partnership with LinkedIn staff to build and integrate their applications into InApps. LinkedIn launched its application platform with 10 applications. Eight outside developers participated, each contributing one InApp application. LinkedIn itself created two InApp applications in 2008. This is a far cry from the tens of thousands of developers who were able to participate in and launch applications on the Facebook Platform. InApps applications are able to be discovered through an application directory, seeing apps on other member profiles and messages sent within the LinkedIn system that highlight app usage. When a user chooses to install an application, they gain access to the app's home page, chose whether the app shows up on their profile and customize the app to their liking. This is similar to the user experience fostered by Facebook. SocialTimes cannot know the rules for developers and the technical details of InApps because of the closed door policy of LinkedIn. This is in stark contrast to the Facebook Platform, which has a very public information base (however cryptic at times) for its developer community. As a result, we review InApps based on usage as a member of LinkedIn. How We Tested InApps SocialTimes installed and used every LinkedIn InApp available in 2008. We utilized the account of a LinkeIn super user with the following characteristics: 1,000+ members in personal network (direct connections) 450,000+ members within second degree of separation 15,500,000+ members visible within 3 degrees of separation 20+ group memberships with an average of 1,500 members participating in each group. Amazingly, close to 16,000,000 members' profiles are viewable and reachable via LinkedIn for a well networked individual (this is over Â½ of LinkedIn's 30,000,000 current members). We also utilized another member as a test node on the graph. This user is a direct connection of the above super user. We did this in order to see what "network updates" and other viral loop activities were generated during our testing of InApps. LinkedIn InApps - Individual Application Reviews Our last segment provides reviews on the individual application level for each of the ten apps that launched with InApps in 2008. We group the apps by category to highlight similarities, provide our insights for each and follow that with the LinkedIn description that is found in the application directory. Blog Sharing Applications Blog sharing applications enable you to syndicate your blog content to your LinkedIn profile. You can also access your network's blog content easily, and even share your direct network's blog posts with visitors to your profile page. As bloggers, we love this. WordPress (by WordPress) SocialTimes Insight: WordPress created an app that lets you syndicate your blog to your LinkedIn profile. It is as simple as that. We were successful in setting up AllFacebook.com to display on a profile. We use WordPress as our platform, and this may explain the ease of use for us. Beyond this surface level profile functionality though, there was little depth to the app. We did encounter one technical error, where the network update feed communicated via email repeatedly listed one blog post as "new" 10+ times in the same email, and others only once, with no difference in the posting process on our side. Official LinkedIn Description: "Connect your virtual lives with the WordPress LinkedIn Application. With the WordPress App, you can sync your WordPress blog posts with your LinkedIn profile, keeping everyone you know in the know." Blog Link (by SixApart) SocialTimes Insight: We simply could not get this app to work properly. It did install and take up a 300X300 pixel, essentially empty space on our profile page. When we attempted to add our blog, via a number of different links, we simply redirected back onto our own home page. On the app's page, we repeatedly got a message "We're working on finding blog posts from your network. This might take a little time if you have a lot of connections". This is followed minutes later by "We could not find any websites or blogs for your contacts...". This was disappointing as we are fans of Six Apart as a company, and we dutifully retested it even at the time of writing. Official LinkedIn Description: "With Blog Link, you can get the most of your LinkedIn relationships by connecting your blog to your LinkedIn profile. Blog Link helps you, and your professional network, stay connected." Presentation Embedding Applications The presentation embedding applications are a useful way of enhancing one's profile with presentations that can be paged through interactively by a viewer of your profile. They operated operate almost purely at the surface level of LinkedIn, however, they are similar to widely popular Slide and Rock You! apps that allow people to express themselves via create rich media experiences. Both developers came across a little too oriented on internal business goals and both seemed successful in working with LinkedIn to host the documents uploaded to profiles. SlideShare Presentations (by SlideShare Inc) SocialTimes Insight: The SlideShare Presentations app immediately presents you with a form to register for SlideShare's non-InApps service. While it may seem harsh to lead with this in a review, that "call to action" is the first thing you see every time you interact with their application. Navigating past the registration page...there were no uploaded presentations from within our 1000+ person network, and SlideShare could only generate 25 apps to share with us over the last three weeks of our reviewing "network activity" for the app. This may mean that only 25 apps were uploaded from our "three degree" network of 15M+ people on LinkedIn. SlideShare does have a great viral loop asking you to invite connections - and observes an apparent 10 invite limit in InApps. The app also implements social media features like tracking views on presentations, and providing links to embed the presentation on a third party web site or to send it in an email. Finally, our uploaded presentation activity was successfully broadcast out to our network via network updates. Official LinkedIn Description: "SlideShare is the best way to share presentations on LinkedIn! You can upload & display your own presentations, check out presentations from your colleagues, and find experts within your network." Google Presentation (by Google) SocialTimes Insight: Google Presentations does a great job of enhancing one's profile, however, the app fell short of our very high expectations for the lead dog of the OpenSocial initiative. We had trouble installing the app because we had to navigate off LinkedIn to Google to enhance our existing Google Gmail account with the required Google Docs account set up steps, and then we had to repeatedly tweak a PowerPoint (.PPT) file to look decent in Google Docs, before uploading it to our LinkedIn profile. Once installed, the application was very slick. In terms of visual and interaction design, it works better than SlideShare. Google Presentations made good use of viral loops - allowing you to notify 10 contacts about the presentation, invite them to the app and getting into the "network update" feed. The app also allows you to share the presentation by providing code to embed it in a web site or provide a link in an email - similar to Google Docs' standalone functionality. It did not, however, let you see how many times your presentation has been viewed like SlideShare. We hope Google will take the lead in leveraging LinkedIn's unique strengths to create meaningful OpenSocial apps (oops should we say "gadgets"?). Official LinkedIn Description: "Present yourself and your work. Upload a .PPT or use Google's online application to embed a presentation on your profile." Collaboration Applications Collaboration applications create an experience that really just ports an enterprise application towards the LinkedIn interface in the name of the "utility app" vision for the InApps platform. We found this a bit artificial, principally because there was little that happened on the InApps platform that these companies do not otherwise do offline. Combine that standalone quality with the fact these apps only operate within your own direct network, and its hard to see what significant value these apps create for LinkedIn users at the end of 2008. Huddle Workspaces (by Huddle.net) SocialTimes Insight: Huddle Workspaces allows you to collaborate with your LinkedIn network by uploading files and creating message boards. You seemingly can invite limitless contacts from your direct network at once (we loaded up 50+), without the limit of 10 invites imposed in other apps like Google's and SlideShare's. We do not see the immediate value of doing this on LinkedIn vs. Huddle.net itself. Also, the app just "huddled" on our profile page, occupying part of our layout but not exposing any functionality to visitors to the profile page. All real activity happened via the invites and shared workspace behind the scenes on the app's page. Official LinkedIn Description: "Huddle gives you private, secure online workspaces packed with simple yet powerful project, collaboration and sharing tools for working with your connections." Box.net Files (by Box.net) SocialTimes Insight: Box.net's application allows you to create online directories in which store documents. "Public" directories show up on your LinkedIn profile with files in a downloadable form. "Private" directories also exist behind the scenes. You can invite members of your direct network to join in, and if they accept they can then access select private directories - downloading and uploading files from that specific directory. This is basic block and tackle style utility at its most basic - we're not exaggerating. Making files available for download on your LinkedIn profile is useful and only possible through the InApps platform. This will help the many people who were previously forced to embed in their profile a link to their resume in a downloadable format on a different site than LinkedIn. Official LinkedIn Description: "Add the Box.net Files application to manage all your important files online. Box.net lets you share content on your profile, and collaborate with friends and colleagues." Personal Information Applications LinkedIn InApps picked two great partners for apps that help users showcase personal information and learn about members' interests. Amazon and TripIt produced OpenSocial apps with a strong value proposition both within members' direct network and for those viewing member profiles across three degrees of separation. Facebook has a host of similar apps, however, we found personal information applications refreshingly useful as an enhancement to LinkedIn. Reading List by Amazon (by Amazon) SocialTimes Insight: Amazon's application enables users to share reading lists amongst their contacts and to showcase this information on their LinkedIn profile. Amazon's app has real potential to enhance a professional's image and to leverage one's network to find reading materials and/or understand your contacts' professional interests better. We had great difficulty installing the application, however, but after several attempts it did function as promised. Additionally, our reading list entries were indeed broadcast as a part of the "network updates" that reached our test members. Finally, this app showcases the potential for revenue generation for LinkedIn - in this case affiliate revenue on book sales. Official LinkedIn Description: "Extend your professional profile by sharing the books you're reading with other LinkedIn members. Find out what you should be reading by following updates from your connections, people in your field, or other LinkedIn members of professional interest to you." My Travel (by TripIt, Inc.) SocialTimes Insight: My Travel allows members to register their travel plans and then share these dates and locations 1) generally on their profile and 2) with members of their network who are also users of the application. This is similar to travel apps on Facebook. We did find it surprisingly useful to see that business contacts were planning to be traveling to the same city at the same time as us - enabling meetings scheduling, etc. This added a new element of utility to LinkedIn networking and showed the promise of InApps. Official LinkedIn Description: "See where your LinkedIn network is traveling and when you will be in the same city as your colleagues. Share your upcoming trips, current location, and travel stats with your network." LinkedIn's In-house Applications LinkedIn included two in-house developed applications as feature apps of the InApps platform. We had high expectations for LinkedIn's efforts, but these apps fell short of what we hoped would be innovative examples of OpenSocial's potential. Technically speaking, most components of LinkedIn's member home pages are "apps" that enhance your experience by dynamically leveraging the social graph. However, we found the Polls and Company Buzz InApps applications to be surprisingly focused in their functionality. We even navigated over to Business Week to explore a LinkedIn widget, represented as separate from the InApps platform, and were by the widget that no one at Business Week is a member of LinkedIn (our direct search LinkedIn showed 99 employees as members). We expect to see more from LinkedIn in this area. Company Buzz (by LinkedIn) SocialTimes Insight: The Company Buzz app basically filters a search of Twitter tweets using company names found on your LinkedIn profile as your search keywords. This information is viewable in the apps page once you install it. While this is useful, it is not revolutionary to anyone who is experienced with social media. We could not figure out how to get the tweets to display on our profile, though we selected this option. Also, we could not figure out how to share it with our coworkers, which the app promises. Official LinkedIn Description: "Ever wonder what people are saying about your company? Company Buzz shows you the twitter activity associated with your company. View tweets, trends and top key words. Customize your topics and share with your coworkers." Polls (by LinkedIn) SocialTimes Insight: Polls could be a highly useful way to gather market intelligence from visitors to your profile page who decide to participate. We played around with the app, creating a poll, previewing it etc. However, we were unable to find any kind of "submit" button to finish the process! While we can see evidence of polls operating other users profiles - and therefore guess it was an error specific to us, like a Firefox browser bug - we didn't see this as the kind of iron clad app roll out that LinkedIn should offer as an example and an inspiration to the developer network it seeks to foster. Our guess is that the app is primarily a selling tool for LinkedIn's premium audience research service it announced earlier this year. Official LinkedIn Description: "The Polls application is a market research tool that allows you to collect actionable data from your connections and the professional audience on LinkedIn. Conclusion We believe that there is a lot to be excited about with the InApps platform. LinkedIn is a very successful social network and the runaway leader in online professional networking. It also has a strong revenue model that is not dependent on the continued growth of the Internet advertising market for long term success. LinkedIn is very good at what it does, but has stumbled some when pursuing Facebook's developer platform and by implementing social networking features that are becoming standards for the consumer Internet. LinkedIn Groups, with its newly launched group messaging and email distributed discussion threads, shows how granting users basic Web 2.0 functionality can trip up a giant that is largely dependent on premium service fees from In-Mails and relationship powered job postings. LinkedIn is taking mandatory step in the direction of social media's evolution with InApps. However, LinkedIn seems to much be more controlled in terms of what functionality it lets out of the bag via OpenSocial than it did internally with Groups. Ironically, the true power of InApps will most likely be release via its integration with LinkedIn Groups - a move which LinkedIn says is a matter of course for the company. Groups integration is where InApps applications could truly be able to excel, extending beyond members' direct networks into the vast social graph enabled by LinkedIn's three degrees of separation philosophy. LinkedIn could then create user experience (UX) that will truly challenge Facebook's current market dominance and fulfill the promise of OpenSocial. What do you think?

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LinkedIn InApps - 2008 Review

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