9 posts tagged “social networking”

[Update]: Some cool media coverage of this funding today by Becky Buckman in The Wall Street Journal and Brad Stone at The New York Times 

I could not be more excited for the team at LinkedIn. If there is any social network that delivers a no-brainer value, its LinkedIn. I have benefited from meeting some of the coolest people from the day I started using it in 2003.

Some personal milestones with LinkedIn:

• An early user since 2003 when they had 40k users. Today they have over 22M
• I met Vice Presidents then (I was "Vocationally Challenged") through LinkedIn at Siebel, eBay and more who are now VERY good friends
• Became an early employee in 2004 when they had 1.5M users and about 25 employees
• Left in 2006 when LinkedIn had about 7M users and ~60 employees. Today, I believe, they have more than 250!
• Now, 5 years since I started using LinkedIn, I have over 1000 connections on LinkedIn and I have met and really know almost all of them

Watch the perspective of the returning and (one) new LinkedIn investors on this new milestone. Dan's post is here

Imagine: Its ALL about Relationships

LinkedIn always had a tradition of celebrating its milestones when a significant number of users had signed up.

They just celebrated 20M users and a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to the much newer and larger team. See all the fun pictures on their blog post here. I started using LinkedIn:

• As a user in 2003 when they had 40k users and with it my initiation to all things social/Web2.0
  
• As an employee in 2004 when it had about 1.5M users
• Left in 2006 when it had about 6.5M users

Two of them where I was in on the journey are below. I can spot myself in the second one but had no luck with the first

It took me a day in 2003 to see that LinkedIn worked and it would always work. Why?

"People Always do Business with People

Imagine: It is that simple

I came across this really well written post on "Why Not To Do A Startup" by Matt and Yes - I had some thoughts that are tied to some basic beliefs I have about life and people.

I think his observations were on the money with respect to startups but it is applicable only to people who are doing with the sole focus of making a lot of money overnight. They are inspired by the phenomenal exit for the Founders of YouTube or the buzz of Facebook and its potential large exit. Another parallel was this article on Max Levchin, the Founder and CEO of Slide.com in New York Times - I dont know him and nor can I speak to the accuracy of the article.

I started with a small step by joining LinkedIn very early in 2004 when social networking was not a category and then after 2 years there went on to start CrossLoop with a very neat team. I am definitely not as experienced as many others out there but there is a common question that needs an answer - whether it is startups or your supposedly-secure job in a large company:

"What Drives You?"

If you choose to have a cause that transcends the need for making money, becoming popular, paying bills, need for validation from others - you will NOT experience what Matt suggests and will have one of the most fulfilling purposes of your life. Some hardships maybe but I guarantee no regrets and and a very possible outcome could be that house in Hawaii. Think collateral success - the L-Letter should sum it all up.

Otherwise, I couldn't agree more with Matt - I have known and seen a few people living EXACTLY what Matt describes.

Imagine: A FUNomenal "ride" (and it is short)

As we all continue to hear the 'R' word (Recession) across all media outlets through stories like that of Bear Stearns and other financial collapses, I thought I would pen down the fundamental hard-to-measure factors that made me thrive during the dot-com bust days and hope it helps. It was almost 3 years for me before I found a full-time job, even though I had just finished B-School.

So if you happen to find yourself with a new job of 'CEO, Vocationally Challenged, Inc', you may not see it this way but it might one of the best opportunities that will come your way to thrive and come out stronger. Very briefly, here is what made that time one of the best in my professional life (in fact, on my LinkedIn profile, that is the only experience I highlight and detail under all experiences):

• Positive attitude and humor: I started enjoying the hunt, the chase and gave myself the title of CEO, Vocationally Challenged, Inc. Another one to consider is its acronymed version - VC ... just at the other end of the spectrum
  
• Its about People. Build and sustain long term relationships - I made friends and mentors, independent of titles, that I still stay in touch with regularly since 2001.
  
• Continuous unlearning and learning: I read voraciously and listened to anyone who could tell me something new. This is also how I discovered and started using LinkedIn when it had 40k users in 2003 (today they have 20M). And absolutely dont forget to ask people you meet two questions:

        "What do you do and How do you do it?"
        They were pivotal to Chris Gardner's Pursuit of Happyness

• Laser Focus on goals: I never compromised and knew very clearly what I wanted. I joined LinkedIn and transitioned into the consumer Internet space, specifically social networking/media after having spent my prior life in enterprise software
  
• Habits 'Built to Last' (that would be hard to break after employment). Some examples: I dont start the day before I have read The Wall Street Journal cover to cover, I workout and pay attention to my physical health

And yes - very importantly, it helps to have a supportive sugar mama!

For those who want to read more about what others are doing that is measurable and easier to execute - here are a few stories and posts that caught my eye:

• Getting Hired by William Bland
• How To Job Hunt as Time Drags On - The Wall Street Journal
• In Silicon Valley, a Flight to Safety - The Wall Street Journal
  

Imagine: "Adversity is a fact of life. It can't be controlled. What we can control is how we react to (and leverage) it."

Here is a quick back of the envelope comparison of the two recent valuations Ballmer and his team have made - Yahoo (the most recent) and Facebook.

• Microsoft's "overture" to Yahoo - $45B (approximated)
• Microsoft's investment in Facebook - $240M for 1.6% leading to a total valuation of Facebook at $15B
  

So Ballmer values Yahoo at approximately 3x times Facebook.

So lets look at some comparable metrics for Yahoo and Facebook:

1) UNIQUE VISITORS:
Yahoo - 134M (Source: Comscore)
Facebook - 35M (Source: Comscore)

Yahoo has a multiple here of almost 4x

2) PAGE VIEWS
Yahoo - 32B (Source: Compete Blog)
Facebook - 65B (Source: Facebook Press)

Facebook has a 2x multiple advantage (Note: Web analytics software used by comScore and other services treat "page views" as complete refreshes of an entire page. But web sites like Yahoo use more modern approaches to layout have recently adopted Asynchronous JavaScript to enable browsers to refresh select portions of the page when necessary, reducing bandwidth and improving layout.)

3) REVENUE
Yahoo - $7B (Source: WSJ. None of it comes as a guaranteed revenue from MSFT)
Facebook - $250M (the numbers thrown around are $150M for last year so giving FB some benefit of doubt - half of which, of course, comes from MSFT)

The biggie - Yahoo has a 28x multiple advantage over Facebook

Imagine: It is still less than half of a projected value of Facebook! Ooh - ya!

In the spirit of Halloween - Woo! Woooooooooo. Win Others Over

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials)

A while ago I had an article on how we are all selling - whether we know and like it or not. One of my all time favorite books on that has been Robert Cialdini's "Influence - the Psychology of Persuasion".

Here is a recent one that seems to be very interesting from a corporate perspective - 'The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas.'

I could not agree more that 'selling starts at home' - literally and figuratively. It is probably harder than selling externally. No idea or brilliance has value until it is executed upon.

The 4 steps they seem to advocate are:

1. Use social networks to reach decision makers
2. Addressing the five barriers:
   
• Unreceptive beliefs (Change is a common culprit here)
  
• Conflicting interests (Are the company
  

  The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas

  G. Richard Shell
  and people's goals aligned and clearly communicated?)
  
• Negative relationships (Ccorporate culture and social intelligence?)
  
• A lack of credibility (Reputation?) and
  
• Failing to adjust one's communication mode to suit a particular audience (Do you ever talk in Greek to those who only understand English?)
  
3. Presentation that is compelling. This does not have to be powerpoint only - timing, relevance, context and problem solving help
4. Securing individual and organizational commitments. A biggy- especially the last one and there you need the buy-in of the top dawg

I assume they assume that one is passionate about what one is selling, 'own' and live it.
 
One factor that is common across the board - its about people all the way.

Wharton has more details on the book here

Imagine: Social Intelligence offline

Jared Sandberg of The Wall Street Journal, had an excellent article here called " Nothing Can Kill Drive and Inspiration Like a Long Wait". I experienced a LONG wait (for about 3 years) during the downturn. Yes - I was CEO of "Vocationally Challenged", Inc. for 3 years right after completing my MBA program, which brought me to the US - pursuing my dream.

The common charactertisitics of a wait when you are looking for a job are:

• Waiting to hear (anything) from a recruiter
• If you are lucky and have gone beyond that, waiting to set up an appointment
• Waiting to hear back from the employer on any interview you might have had
• Waiting to learn when the the round of interviews end (Google, I believe, stretches it out across multiple interviews over months)
• If above not leading to a 'Yes', then goto beginning and start the 'sale cycle' all over again
  

Here are some observations from my experience of that wait:

• Patience is a hard-to-get virtue in America since it is an economy driven by convenience and efficiency
• Hope and expectations are often thought of as the same. If you are an optimist, like me, you definitely want to hope for the best but expect the worst. There will be no surprises - life is about managing expectations.
  
• The feeling of helplessness leads to many of these frustrations. If helplessness is a problem, one can solve it
• Visualize the end results, the goal is a powerful tool to getting there. Did you learn to ride the bike by looking down trying to avoid the rocks/ potholes or by looking at where you wanted to reach? [Waiver: If you are in India, please look down first - you waive me of all liabilities if you follow my instructions and hurt yourself]
• There are no shortcuts - embrace the struggle. The more you do and have to, the more you will learn, value it and rise to the challenge
  

Imagine:  Yoda: "Difficult to see. Always in motion is future"

I had a recent post on friendship, then a few casting a cat with a dog [Also read: Gordon Gekko's Social Graph] and a grocery store clerk in social networks, with my personal thoughts on making friends and comparing Web 2.0 with offline and online behavior.

Here are a couple of studies I found through Valleywag that are very relevant and bring out the paradox in the two worlds or maybe more appropriately, first and second life:

• England's Sheffield Hallam University's Dr. Will Reader studies whether social networks, with the aid of "add friend", helps in making friends.
  

The article states "The advent of online social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook is changing the average number of friends people have, with some users befriending literally thousands of others, Dr Will Reader of Sheffield Hallam University told the BA Festival of Science on Monday."

Then he goes on to find out that, not surprisingly:"Some 90 per cent of the online friends rated as ‘close’ have been met face-to-face". But wait, there is more - more disconnect with the online and offline friends:
The article refers to Dunbar's Number, also referred to by Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, The Tipping Point "that the average person has a social network of around 150 friends, ranging from very close friends to casual acquaintances.

The irony of all this is to consider a study as recent as in 2006, that brings out the decline in friendship.

"The study states that 25% of Americans have no close confidants, and that the average total number of confidants per person has dropped to 2."

• The second reference was to a Times of London article about the "Facebook Suicide". More importantly though, is this quote, which is very relevant:

"Patricia Rogers, a counsellor and fellow of the BACP, even worries that the feelings that lead to Facebook suicide could trigger the loneliness [ref: slippery slope of loneliness in prior post here] and lack of self-esteem felt by people who really do take their own lives.
"It could be incredibly damaging for the ego to realise that you haven't got as many friends as you thought you had, or that those friends aren't particularly meaningful," she says"
 
Imagine: Social is Social Does [not social "adds"]

There was this really long time (2001-2004) in my life - also one of the best time for me in terms of growth - during the economic downturn following the dot com boom when I was the CEO of "Vocationally Challenged, Inc.' - my first foray into [a] social networking company (pun intended)

Here is is a glimpse into it through this little article I wrote when I was at it - it was of course all offline (at a local Starbucks in Portland, OR) and real face to face long-term relationships. They are all still friends including one of the baristas referred to in the article - in fact she is right in the neighborhood here on Vox! I still thrive on that - a post on its relevance and why it is relevant next.

Imagine: Make (not 'Add') Friend