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Is LinkedIn the New Facebook?

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LinkedIn these days seems to be less about posting “business” content and more around publishing selfies, memes and math puzzles.

Ironically, these Facebook-like posts generally get more traction. But all engagement is not always good engagement, just like all publicity is not always good publicity.

Interestingly enough, the Pew Research Center found that more workers ages 18-49 have discovered information on social media that lowered their professional opinion of a colleague, compared to those who garnered an improved estimation of a co-worker from online platforms. So, be careful what you post.

LinkedIn prides itself on “connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” What’s happened, however, is the line between “work” and “consumer” content has been blurred, causing LinkedIn professionals to lambast what they see as irrelevant posts, stating: “This is not Facebook!”

A recent post on LinkedIn.

A graphic that accompanied a post on LinkedIn.

The reality is that LinkedIn is competing with Facebook. Late last year, Mark Zuckerberg’s social network announced it was testing a feature that would let page administrators create job postings and receive applications from candidates. This undoubtedly will put pressure on LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions business, which comprised 65 percent of the company’s 3Q 2016 revenues.

With 467 million members in over 200 countries and territories, LinkedIn, now owned by Microsoft, is growing at a rate of more than two new members per second. This quails in comparison to Facebook’s 1.79 billion monthly active users, but the company’s growth shows more professionals see value in the platform.

So what does the future look like for LinkedIn? Consider the following:

  • LinkedIn will become an even more valuable business networking tool among business professionals, surpassing Pew’s estimate of the 14 percent of professionals who use the online platform for work-related purposes.
  • “Irrelevant” posts will continue, at least in the short term, but will have an adverse effect on those who publish non-related content.
  • Thoughtful, engaging and pertinent posts that resonate with key audiences will generate positive engagement.
  • Business organizations and individuals will learn how to leverage this network beyond recruitment and job searches.

Much can be said by the old adage “all work and no play …,” so it’s refreshing to see some brevity in our daily work lives. But these matters may be best suited for Facebook and not LinkedIn.

— George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com

 

Lights, Camera, Earnings!

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Traditionally, earnings calls have been a cut and (very) dry quarterly procedure. But with the emergence of social media and the SEC’s move to embrace them, following is a summer round up of how companies are finding new and creative ways to put a little pizazz into their calls.Yahoo Earnings Call

During Yahoo!’s most recent call, CEO Marissa Mayer and CFO Ken Goldman appeared on a high-quality streaming video webcast, answering questions from analysts who called in. The company also live-tweeted key messages from their corporate Twitter account.

Zillow made a splash with their call in early August as the first company to answer questions submitted live through Twitter and Facebook. Spencer Rascoff, Zillow’s CEO, answered questions from individual investors, as well as sell-side analysts.  Zillow also leveraged both Twitter and Facebook to tell their story visually, posting infographics with metrics that illustrated recent growth.

Like Yahoo!, Netflix participated in live streaming video, but they tweaked their approach to the Q&A session by moderating a panel discussion that included a member of the financial press and a covering sell-side analyst.   Questions were screened in advance for CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells.  The questions were also unattributed.

The jury is still out whether more companies will embrace video earnings calls in the near future.  But shareholders seem to like it. Approximately 70% said that compared with audio-only earnings webcasts, video webcasts of a company’s CEO inspire more trust, according to a Shareholder Confidence 365 Study that received responses from nearly 11,000 professional and individual investors.

The challenge is training management to feel comfortable in front of a camera.  After all, answering questions with a furrowed brow could have unintended consequences when it comes to instilling confidence in your shareholder base.  Same goes for too much powder!

Joanne Sibug, jsibug@pondel.com

Social Securities

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The Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent decision allowing public companies to announce information via social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter is a logical next step for a government agency that has been relatively non-committal about new information channels.

Most public companies think in terms of 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks and the like when it comes to disclosure, in addition to issuing news releases on wire services, such as Business Wire, PRNewswire, GlobeNewswire and Marketwire. But times are-a-changin’, indeed. When an executive can speak directly to his or her audience on Facebook or Twitter, it seems superfluous to shell out thousands of dollars a year to issue news releases.

Tweeting a link to financial results is, in many ways, a lot easier (and certainly less expensive) than uploading an eight-page news release to a wire service. So what if tweeting financial results will not reach Yahoo! Finance, Google News and other websites that are fed by wire services. Consider how liberating it might feel to spoon feed your messages directly to audiences who care the most about your news.

Not so fast.

To think that social media are a perfectly benign and convenient way to disclose information is about as naïve as believing that Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong-un are BFF. Consider the fact that thousands upon thousands of fictitious identities are created on Facebook and Twitter on a weekly, if not daily basis. Now add to the mix that companies are issuing market-moving information on these very same networks, and soon the powder keg doubles, triples and quadruples in size.

Don’t get me wrong. I love social media and believe that a plurality of channels begets a more well-informed public. But the SEC doesn’t (likely) have the bandwidth to police the myriad shenanigans that social media have the ability to perpetuate.

And so my question is this: Is the SEC saying OK to social media to save face(book) on the fact that it did not initiate an enforcement action on Netflix CEO Reed Hastings? Or is it due time for the SEC to embrace social media for what they really are: new information channels that have the potential to breed a hornet’s nest of Reg FD infractions.

 

— Evan Pondel, epondel@pondel.com

The Downside of Social Media

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While social media usage continues to grow here in the U.S. and globally, so do opportunities to reach key audiences on the Web, creating an oversaturation of content, we know all too well.

World Wide Web (Photo Credit: wikipedia.com)

 
Countless efficiency studies have been released on managing content, mirrored by just as many reports on tapping key audiences in a cluttered marketplace.  For instance, standing up in a packed movie theater yelling “Fire!” will certainly grab attention, but it’s probably not the kind of exposure that is sustainable over the long term.
 
Facebook and Google’s ad strategy of creating more personalized content based on user preferences may be the future of marketing.  The fact remains, however, that people turn off when the proverbial information flow goes on overload.
 
Walking a delicate balance is the right strategy.  Consider the following five tips when engaging
online audiences:
 

  1. Whether corporate, investor or marketing-related, make your message relevant. Know your audience’s wants and needs and develop messaging that resonates on a deeper level.  For example, time-strapped CEOs may be more inclined to listen to a vendor that understands the pressures of a “bottom line.”
     
  2. Don’t try to speak to the entire world. While having a video or tweet go viral is rare, most times less is more.  Try having more personalized online conversations and work on building deeper relationships with audiences.
     
  3. Start off slow. Don’t bombard your audiences with too many messages at once. Keep it simple. Start a conversation and then slowly move into other topic areas with time.
     
  4. Add value. Make sure you provide your audience with something they can’t get elsewhere. This is paramount.
     
  5. Try the post office.  May sound corny, but a nice follow up letter using old fashioned snail mail with an actual signed signature goes a long way in today’s fast-paced, digitized world. Think about how many personalized letters you receive these days.
     
  6. And finally, remember the old adage of selling the sizzle, not the steak. Keep in mind that there are millions of conversation threads each day. Why should anyone join yours?

 

— George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com
 
 

Social Media’s Global Growth

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The stats on social media’s global growth are staggering.  A graphic recently posted in Mashable.com illustrates how the world consumes social media.  And boy does it!

Facebook Logo

 
We all know that Facebook now has one billion users in 127 countries and is the top social media destination.  It’s also interesting to learn how countries and regions outside the U.S. are adopting social media like Asia, which has grown to more than one billion Internet users in a little more than ten years.
 
Or that 800 million users visit YouTube each month with more than 70 percent of the site’s traffic coming from outside the U.S.  In fact, 700 of these videos are shared via Twitter every minute.  Moreover, LinkedIn increased its membership nearly by half in the last two years with Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia seeing the largest user growth.
 
All this data can seem very overwhelming.  Even though the growth of social media seems to be a no brainer when it comes to global marketing, many executives still fail to grasp the opportunity.  Let’s be clear: social media is not slowing down anytime soon.
 
Not all social media platforms may be relevant for every business organization.  There is no one size fits all solution for tackling this new media landscape.  However, given the global economy and the opportunities social media presents, these new platforms can help organizations engage with consumers, customers, and even investors, all over the world.  It’s like six degrees of separation on steroids. The proof is in the data.
 
So, the world is consuming social media.  Are you?

 

— George Medici, gmedici@pondel.com
 
 

Resisting Temptation to “Like This”

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No hoods

No Hoodies (source)


As I mulled this post while prying my seven-year-old out of bed this morning, I also wrestled with all of the brouhaha surrounding the pending Facebook IPO.  Something just did not sit right.  Then it hit me.  I have seen this show before.
 
Facebook’s global adulation is understandable, and well earned.  One in eight people on the
planet use it.  That’s an unfathomable audience that is now interconnected. But as the reports during the IPO process reach their crescendo, two large questions loom:  1) Does Facebook’s advertising really work; and 2) Should the company be valued at $100 billion?
 
Don’t get me wrong, I want to see the company succeed, badly.  I am dying for some good news.  But the more our collective anticipation builds, the more I worry.  Is there a clear rationale for this target valuation or is it hubris?  Are we more enamored of simply breaking an IPO record, or are investors using sane judgment?  And should California really be thinking it can potentially narrow its budget deficit with increased taxes from the many new resident millionaires that will materialize from this transaction?  I get the feeling we are putting too much value on this event, and we might be in for some disappointment.
 
As my son and I had our breakfast, an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal titled “Jenkins:
The Zuckerberg Challenge” sustained my anxiety.  The author too postulated that apart from enviable 2011 ad sale revenues totaling $3.2 billion, a chasm exists between this and Facebook’s estimated target valuation.  He also provides heaps of praise for the seemingly endless possibilities that lay before the company, which I can’t deny.
 
But as a newly public company, Facebook’s iconic leader Mark Zuckerberg will need to be more transparent with the company’s operations and growth strategies than ever before.  Demonstrating that its ad engine provides real value to its customers and a putting a keen focus on generating profits will be paramount. He now has to answer to many more people that own his baby, and should the stock price fall below the IPO level, the barbarians surely will arrive at the gate.  Which makes me wonder why the company is aiming for such an immediate high valuation in the first place.  “Under promise and over deliver” has been a mantra that has served many CEOs well.
 
As I make my final inspection of my son’s school clothes it also occurs to me that Mr. Zuckerberg might want to leave his signature hoodie at home and don a suit now and then. Growing up is hard, but if you want a $100 billion valuation, you need to play the part.

 

— PondelWilkinson, investor@pondel.com