I constantly read articles about which social network is the best. The best and most well known is of course Facebook which is credited with starting the social network trend that is so pervasive these days. However, there are other social networks out there. Google+ is one such network, and people can argue all day over which one is better. Google+ does not really contribute much to the Google mother ship right now whereas Facebook's entire business is social media, and they are under extreme pressure to figure out how it can be monetized and provide maximized shareholder value :) now that they are a public company.
Out of all these social networks one that has golden potential, but I don't hear much about is LinkedIn. Maybe its because people can't gossip about someone posting scandalous pictures on LinkedIn at the water cooler because no one would be stupid enough to do that ( No should on Facebook either, but that is another story) , but no one really talks about LinkedIn much. I think they definitely have work to do on their site to improve the social experience, but it is a gold mine just waiting to happen in terms of both opportunities and ideas. LinkedIn is the premier site when it comes to connecting with your business peers online and also looking for job opportunities. Recently I have noticed more their push into social interaction with social groups and now people can also follow well known business leaders who post onto LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a market valuation of 16 billion and change with a P/E ratio of 817.14 according to the latest I pulled from Google Finance. Contrast with Facebook which has a P/E ration of 1846. Facebook is valued more on the market but LinkedIn generates .19 per share versus Facebook's .1. I am not going to delve into more of the financials here. I think both sites have huge potential, but I think LinkedIn has a better story for growth and sustained increasing earnings going forward. Facebook still needs to monetize mobile and figure out how to get casual users to pay for their services whereas LinkedIn currently charges for their professional job seeking services. I also think LinkedIn provides a great service for professionals to get together and trade ideas, and I can argue good network connections on LinkedIn will pay off in the future more than the random person you will connect to on Facebook.
Look forward to more on my analysis of LinkedIn as I continue to use their site and become more involved in the community there.
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