LinkedIn Surpassing Facebook for Enterprise Use-Cases
| Manoj Jasra - Friday, January 16, 2009 3 Comments |
While early 2008 found enterprises buzzing about Facebook and some firms even adopted it as their Intranet platform, 2009 is seeing LinkedIn moving more rapidly to address enterprise social computing needs, according to new research by independent analyst firm, CMS Watch.Today CMS Watch released an update to its 510-page Enterprise Social Software & Collaboration Report 2009, which evaluates twenty-six social computing platforms against eleven potential enterprise use-cases. Vendors reviewed include IBM, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Jive, Telligent, Awareness, Drupal, SocialText, Lithium, and Ning, as well as Facebook and LinkedIn.
"Both platforms are increasingly important to professionals worldwide, but LinkedIn is beginning to make more progress towards services that can support enterprise-oriented social computing," explained CMS Watch analyst Jarrod Gingras.
LinkedIn outperformed Facebook in CMS Watch's "Professional Networking" and "Community of Practice" use-cases. The report also found that from a functional standpoint, LinkedIn surpasses Facebook in Information Filtering and Discussion -- although neither platform provides the broader Blog, Wiki, and Project Tracking services that support broader enterprise collaboration.
Of particular note:
- Enterprises can use LinkedIn groups as internal and external discussion boards and link-sharing areas. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn participants can be pre-authorized by e-mail domain, they can keep track of discussions through notifications, and they can search group content.
- LinkedIn has chosen to slowly control the release of several "approved" applications for professional use, unlike Facebook, which allows any developer to post applications. Several official LinkedIn applications target enterprise users, such as a SlideShare application, as well as a Huddle application that provides lightweight file sharing and collaboration. There are no native document collaboration services in Facebook.
- LinkedIn is perceived as more professional by members. "Enterprises should not assume that their employees and business partners are comfortable mixing professional and personal personas on Facebook, especially beyond North America," concludes CMS Watch analyst, Adriaan Bloem.
To be sure, Facebook is clearly the most popular public networking service, with a membership of 150 million that is expected to double in 2009. "There's good reason for all that growth," notes CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne, "and Facebook certainly has a better 'fun factor,' but I’m not as sanguine about the platform's business potential as I was a year ago, whereas LinkedIn seems to be pursuing a measured plan to provide more value to the enterprise."
Of particular note:
- Enterprises can use LinkedIn groups as internal and external discussion boards and link-sharing areas. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn participants can be pre-authorized by e-mail domain, they can keep track of discussions through notifications, and they can search group content.
- LinkedIn has chosen to slowly control the release of several "approved" applications for professional use, unlike Facebook, which allows any developer to post applications. Several official LinkedIn applications target enterprise users, such as a SlideShare application, as well as a Huddle application that provides lightweight file sharing and collaboration. There are no native document collaboration services in Facebook.
- LinkedIn is perceived as more professional by members. "Enterprises should not assume that their employees and business partners are comfortable mixing professional and personal personas on Facebook, especially beyond North America," concludes CMS Watch analyst, Adriaan Bloem.
To be sure, Facebook is clearly the most popular public networking service, with a membership of 150 million that is expected to double in 2009. "There's good reason for all that growth," notes CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne, "and Facebook certainly has a better 'fun factor,' but I’m not as sanguine about the platform's business potential as I was a year ago, whereas LinkedIn seems to be pursuing a measured plan to provide more value to the enterprise."
Labels: CMS Watch, Facebook, LinkedIn
What are your thoughts as to which platform works best for building brand champions/relationships/brand awareness for a product or service?
I like and use LinkedIn on a regular basis, but I've not found a way to make it work from a business marketing standpoint. Instead more from a personal marketing standpoint. Granted, it is the place I'd go to inquire advice from my peers (and provide advice to them). But Twitter is also quite useful in the manner, if you're following the right people.
Facebook's Groups, Pages and Ads seem to make it the best resource (currently) for marketing and building relationships.
Looking forward to others thoughts.
Facebook has been working pretty decently for us. Facebook has allowed us to reach out to a broader range of users in addition to giving us a easy way to create a community (Facebook Groups).
And generally, people use Facebook more frequently than they do LinkedIn.
I also use LinkedIn on occasion. I usually resort to cestagi since I'm on the academic side ...