Comments on: LinkedIn takes next step towards business social networking dominance?

By: Dave S

Dave S — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:50:16 +0000

Well for people outside the internet literaty, it can often seem like a potentially daunting place. Alot of people who who had no great intrest in the internet for anything more then functional services, got there first taste of the social aspect through sites like bebo and face book. For some they can be a gateway to exploring other aspects, but for many they only use them as a cursory form of networking and have little interest in experimenting with unfamiliar media or other social networking sites.
I see it in people i know and don’t all around me, there is a brand loyalty to sites (especially bebo) and especially amongst women. There is a degree of the social networking population that are willing to shift if there is an incentive, but this flux is hampered to some extent by the people who still view the majority of the internet as a very technically exclusive place.

It’s that unfamiliarity threshold that causes brand loyalty to most products.

By: barryclassic

barryclassic — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:07:52 +0000

LinkedIn and Bebo are worlds apart in that LinkedIn is aimed squarely at business professionals as opposed to the Kate Modern young UK/NZ/Irish generation on Bebo.

I’m not so sure that its the case that people are loyal to certain social networking sites right now, and that its more of a situation where users tend to be on networks where the majority of their friends are. I think you are right that people are starting to shop around more now, especially as as data portability gets easier and easier.

By: Dave S

Dave S — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:03:00 +0000

Never heard of LinkedIn before. I’ve only really had experience with bebo, and i found it limiting in places where it needn’t be and sprawling/messy in appearence. It always seemed like it was missing some of the simple features that older social networking blogs such as live journal had.

I think brand loyalty plays a huge part in social networking penetration, just as any other established product. Although as people get more comfortable with social networking sites in general, they may be more willing to diverge from their comfort zones and shop around.