LinkedIn a great fit for News Corp
It looks like News Corp may take over the LinkedIn business networking site. The UK’s TechCrunch is reporting well placed sources who claim that News Corp is about to bid for LinkedIn.
If this does happen, I think it would make a lot of sense for News Corp. News Corp’s online stable includes MySpace, of course, and also (when completed) the Dow Jones Enterprise Media properties of the Wall Street Journal Online, and Factiva.
Other than the fact that they are both online virtual communities, you can’t really compare LinkedIn to MySpace. LinkedIn has over 16 million registered (and generally active) members. They are mainly professional people who are on the site for a mix of regular business networking and job hunting reasons.
LinkedIn profiles are almost all very professional, often resembling mini-CVs. Since the site is regularly used by head-hunters and companies looking for staff, you’d be a fool to create a profile that was anything like a MySpace (or even a Facebook) profile.
LinkedIn currently sells its own display advertising, supplemented by some Google AdWords inventory (though this is becoming much less common).
The adverts are very business-focused and because profiles are usually quite detailed and need to be accurate (or you’ll blow your credibility with colleagues and potential employers) an almost unheard of level of advertising targeting can be achieved.
LinkedIn users visit their own profile most often, at least as the starting point for people searches and other networking activities, so display adverts can be very tightly targeted.
LinkedIn is also in the online job advertising business, and because of the high concentration of senior business people on the site this is a fast-growing and highly profitable part of LinkedIn’s business. Companies like Google use LinkedIn extensively for their non-technical recruitment.
Apart from securing a prime piece of virtual real estate for online business advertising, there would be a lot of overlap with the Wall Street Journal and Factiva markets. News Corp would also provide LinkedIn with a “home” that is very much focused on the same markets as its primary audience of business networkers.
I think it makes sense.