10 ms·

LinkedIn Tumbles 30% on Earnings Guidance

72 points by confiscate 11y ago

overdrivetg 11y ago
For the life of me I don't understand why Google+ didn't just target professional use cases and kill these guys. The bar is just soooo low and makes such strategically obvious sense. Actually, they could still probably do it - if anyone wants to put me in charge of Google+ for the next 3 years, all your LinkedIn problems will be over.
- danhak 11y ago
  Because Facebook--not LinkedIn--is a threat to Google's business model (and is worth 18x as much by market cap).
  - dclowd9901 11y ago
    What are you smoking? Google's worth half a trillion dollars (don't Alphabet me, that's just splitting hairs)
    - adpirz 11y ago
      Think s/he meant Facebook market cap = 18 x LinkedIn market cap
- justinhj 11y ago
  I don't know why you think it would be so easy. LinkedIn seems to work fairly well to me, and it is not a trivial site to build by any measure.
- luketych 11y ago
  Google should also just target retail use cases and kill amazon.
  - dredmorbius 11y ago
    I've been arguing just this for quite some time. I also think I just accidentally downvoted you (damned mobile UI/UX failure), for which I apologise.
    - luketych 11y ago
      No worries dude. I could care less about my ranking on this site lol
- chris11 11y ago
  What specific problems does LinkedIn have that you think Google would solve?
  - dredmorbius 11y ago
    Speaking for myself, not OP, and as someone who's criticised G+ strongly on numerous grounds: Google+ started, at least, with a rather strong professional cachet. Its inaugural user cohort trended very strongly to Googlers, Xooglers, their immediate contacts, techies, and a number of folk with aligned interests. And, unfortunately, SEO and marketing types. A very nearly fatal disease in a content-sharing community. Google had a number of tremendous mis-steps. Privacy and confidentiality were very large among them, and I've little confidence that Vic Gundotra's G+ of 2012 could have executed on a professional-networking G+ successfully. I think that with many of the very, very hard lessons Google's experienced, and I very sincerely hope has learned from, it could today. Google could offer a G+ professional network which, at the very least, would benefit Google itself as a recruiting device. Possibly paired with other activities (women in STEM outreach, summer of code), and platforms (something Github-esque). Google offering a general interest recruiting platform is probably a non-starter, in that it's a direct conflict of interest (Google would want the best candidates for itself), and in light of the illegal anti-poaching collusion case (still ongoing IIUC). Pity. Google also don't need to directly monetise G+, an could avoid many of LinkedIn's more obnoxious practices.
- noarchy 11y ago
  Google wanted to take on Facebook. I'd contend that they didn't succeed, and I suspect most would agree. LinkedIn has a market, but it apparently isn't the one Google wanted. Interestingly, there are people posting on Google+ that make for the occasional, decent content. Far more, certainly, than the awful "inspirational" memes I see so often on my LinkedIn feed.
  - jldugger 11y ago
    > Google wanted to take on Facebook. Indeed, the internal argument was that Google was blind to all the data within Facebook, and thus FB would be in a stronger long term position to sell targeted ads. LinkedIn, in contrast, is already Google indexed. It'd be difficult to bootstrap their company without exposure, since it's a double sided social network.
    - firebones 11y ago
      But when has Google ever really gone deep and sustainable in a vertical like this? They don't seem to have staying power in anything that isn't a pure internet infrastructure essential. LinkedIn doesn't seem to be the kind of thing they could nail, or would commit to even if they did have some fledgling success.
  - randycupertino 11y ago
    > the awful "inspirational" memes I see so often on my LinkedIn feed Heh- my instagram feed is clogged up with inspirational memes. Interestingly, they're posted the most by the least successful people. Linkedin skeeved me out and I stopped using it after they started spamming me constantly to add all these random people I barely know to my professional network, like a dude I sold a couch to on craigslist in 2007. No thanks, Linkedin. No thanks.
zanewill9 11y ago
The one year stock graphs for LNKD and TWTR now look remarkably similar (or at least they will tomorrow when the price is no longer "after market"). That seems surprising to me, all things considered I actually believe LNKD is a company with real value - TWTR seems far more shaky.
- pyrrhotech 11y ago
  The company is still valued as if it has a whole lot of "real value"--even after tonight's precipitous decline, it is valued at $17B to be exact. Based on its slowing growth in the 30% range, it no longer deserves a unicorn multiple on its revenue. I think the company provides a useful service and will succeed in the long term, but there are two pieces to investing--company prospects and price. I would only buy under $75 which we may see in a coming bear market.
  - buserror 11y ago
    Well, I found several jobs using linkedin, so for me, it works. You have to be a bit harsh on accepting links with people you don't know, but I can't complain... And there's the odd funny joke too -- once I got a job offer for building a supermarket on the south coast. You know, I'm a 'software architect' after all, got to know how to build supermarkets... (well I did participate in projects that looked a lot like oil refineries, to be fair ;-))
halayli 11y ago
Tableau Software Inc down -35.8% https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DATA https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DATA
whistlerbrk 11y ago
I think people within our direct industry tend to look down on LinkedIn but it seems clear to me that those in sales and b2b find it completely invaluable. Their interface to me looks haggard and is filled with bugs but I don't expect this to be anymore than the fluctuations and corrections in the market.
- douche 11y ago
  Does anyone other than slimy recruiters actually use LinkedIn? Actually curious - I've never had any interactions through the site other than randos endorsing me for things I know nothing about, and code-sausage-machine consultants and recruiters sending me emails about positions that don't match anything in my profile. But it must have somebody out there that uses it, if they're pulling in 3.6 billion in revenue.
  - click170 11y ago
    At my last couple jobs there was actually a running joke that any time someone updated their LinkedIn profile it was because they were looking for another job. It seemed to actually be mostly true. I work in tech.
  - eli 11y ago
    People find jobs through it all the time. Sadly LinkedIn seems to have put their Groups on the back burner, but they're still a good way to chat with people in your industry, especially niche and non-tech industries
  - itgoon 11y ago
    That's how I find most of my long-term work. As someone else mentioned, I update it when I'm looking for a job. That kicks off a bunch of messages and invites from recruiters. There's the usual hits and misses, but it works fine for me.
    - therein 11y ago
      Exactly, same here. It works as intended for me as a Software Engineer.
firebones 11y ago
Coincidentally--or not--I've noticed a sudden influx of LinkedIn "Add me to your network" spam tonight before I heard the news. Did the CFO hit some "dive dive dive!" switch to loosen the filters and avoid the torpedoes?
- randycupertino 11y ago
  AAwooga! Awooga!! Add this girl you hooked up with at a frat party in 2004 to your professional network!! Connect with your former sketchy real estate agent who snorted coke, attempted to feel up your sister in law, and then fell into the pool at the open house. I don't know how Linkedin finds these people that I purposely spent the last decade trying to forget, and why they are so insistent that I connect professionally with them all.
  - buserror 11y ago
    Spooky isn't it? I always wonder how they do it. I'm not on fecebook and all that, and they still find people I had completely forgotten about from completely out of context with sometime even zero electronic communication involved!
    - ucho 11y ago
      Not so spooky anymore: http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-settles-class-action-lawsuit-2015-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-settles-class-action...

72 points by confiscate 11y ago

For the life of me I don't understand why Google+ didn't just target professional use cases and kill these guys. The bar is just soooo low and makes such strategically obvious sense. Actually, they could still probably do it - if anyone wants to put me in charge of Google+ for the next 3 years, all your LinkedIn problems will be over.

danhak 11y ago
Because Facebook--not LinkedIn--is a threat to Google's business model (and is worth 18x as much by market cap).
- dclowd9901 11y ago
  What are you smoking? Google's worth half a trillion dollars (don't Alphabet me, that's just splitting hairs)
  - adpirz 11y ago
    Think s/he meant Facebook market cap = 18 x LinkedIn market cap
justinhj 11y ago
I don't know why you think it would be so easy. LinkedIn seems to work fairly well to me, and it is not a trivial site to build by any measure.
luketych 11y ago
Google should also just target retail use cases and kill amazon.
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  I've been arguing just this for quite some time. I also think I just accidentally downvoted you (damned mobile UI/UX failure), for which I apologise.
  - luketych 11y ago
    No worries dude. I could care less about my ranking on this site lol
chris11 11y ago
What specific problems does LinkedIn have that you think Google would solve?
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  Speaking for myself, not OP, and as someone who's criticised G+ strongly on numerous grounds: Google+ started, at least, with a rather strong professional cachet. Its inaugural user cohort trended very strongly to Googlers, Xooglers, their immediate contacts, techies, and a number of folk with aligned interests. And, unfortunately, SEO and marketing types. A very nearly fatal disease in a content-sharing community. Google had a number of tremendous mis-steps. Privacy and confidentiality were very large among them, and I've little confidence that Vic Gundotra's G+ of 2012 could have executed on a professional-networking G+ successfully. I think that with many of the very, very hard lessons Google's experienced, and I very sincerely hope has learned from, it could today. Google could offer a G+ professional network which, at the very least, would benefit Google itself as a recruiting device. Possibly paired with other activities (women in STEM outreach, summer of code), and platforms (something Github-esque). Google offering a general interest recruiting platform is probably a non-starter, in that it's a direct conflict of interest (Google would want the best candidates for itself), and in light of the illegal anti-poaching collusion case (still ongoing IIUC). Pity. Google also don't need to directly monetise G+, an could avoid many of LinkedIn's more obnoxious practices.
noarchy 11y ago
Google wanted to take on Facebook. I'd contend that they didn't succeed, and I suspect most would agree. LinkedIn has a market, but it apparently isn't the one Google wanted. Interestingly, there are people posting on Google+ that make for the occasional, decent content. Far more, certainly, than the awful "inspirational" memes I see so often on my LinkedIn feed.
- jldugger 11y ago
  > Google wanted to take on Facebook. Indeed, the internal argument was that Google was blind to all the data within Facebook, and thus FB would be in a stronger long term position to sell targeted ads. LinkedIn, in contrast, is already Google indexed. It'd be difficult to bootstrap their company without exposure, since it's a double sided social network.
  - firebones 11y ago
    But when has Google ever really gone deep and sustainable in a vertical like this? They don't seem to have staying power in anything that isn't a pure internet infrastructure essential. LinkedIn doesn't seem to be the kind of thing they could nail, or would commit to even if they did have some fledgling success.
- randycupertino 11y ago
  > the awful "inspirational" memes I see so often on my LinkedIn feed Heh- my instagram feed is clogged up with inspirational memes. Interestingly, they're posted the most by the least successful people. Linkedin skeeved me out and I stopped using it after they started spamming me constantly to add all these random people I barely know to my professional network, like a dude I sold a couch to on craigslist in 2007. No thanks, Linkedin. No thanks.

zanewill9 11y ago

The one year stock graphs for LNKD and TWTR now look remarkably similar (or at least they will tomorrow when the price is no longer "after market"). That seems surprising to me, all things considered I actually believe LNKD is a company with real value - TWTR seems far more shaky.

pyrrhotech 11y ago
The company is still valued as if it has a whole lot of "real value"--even after tonight's precipitous decline, it is valued at $17B to be exact. Based on its slowing growth in the 30% range, it no longer deserves a unicorn multiple on its revenue. I think the company provides a useful service and will succeed in the long term, but there are two pieces to investing--company prospects and price. I would only buy under $75 which we may see in a coming bear market.
- buserror 11y ago
  Well, I found several jobs using linkedin, so for me, it works. You have to be a bit harsh on accepting links with people you don't know, but I can't complain... And there's the odd funny joke too -- once I got a job offer for building a supermarket on the south coast. You know, I'm a 'software architect' after all, got to know how to build supermarkets... (well I did participate in projects that looked a lot like oil refineries, to be fair ;-))

halayli 11y ago

Tableau Software Inc down -35.8% https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DATA https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DATA

whistlerbrk 11y ago

I think people within our direct industry tend to look down on LinkedIn but it seems clear to me that those in sales and b2b find it completely invaluable. Their interface to me looks haggard and is filled with bugs but I don't expect this to be anymore than the fluctuations and corrections in the market.

douche 11y ago
Does anyone other than slimy recruiters actually use LinkedIn? Actually curious - I've never had any interactions through the site other than randos endorsing me for things I know nothing about, and code-sausage-machine consultants and recruiters sending me emails about positions that don't match anything in my profile. But it must have somebody out there that uses it, if they're pulling in 3.6 billion in revenue.
- click170 11y ago
  At my last couple jobs there was actually a running joke that any time someone updated their LinkedIn profile it was because they were looking for another job. It seemed to actually be mostly true. I work in tech.
- eli 11y ago
  People find jobs through it all the time. Sadly LinkedIn seems to have put their Groups on the back burner, but they're still a good way to chat with people in your industry, especially niche and non-tech industries
- itgoon 11y ago
  That's how I find most of my long-term work. As someone else mentioned, I update it when I'm looking for a job. That kicks off a bunch of messages and invites from recruiters. There's the usual hits and misses, but it works fine for me.
  - therein 11y ago
    Exactly, same here. It works as intended for me as a Software Engineer.

firebones 11y ago

Coincidentally--or not--I've noticed a sudden influx of LinkedIn "Add me to your network" spam tonight before I heard the news. Did the CFO hit some "dive dive dive!" switch to loosen the filters and avoid the torpedoes?

randycupertino 11y ago
AAwooga! Awooga!! Add this girl you hooked up with at a frat party in 2004 to your professional network!! Connect with your former sketchy real estate agent who snorted coke, attempted to feel up your sister in law, and then fell into the pool at the open house. I don't know how Linkedin finds these people that I purposely spent the last decade trying to forget, and why they are so insistent that I connect professionally with them all.
- buserror 11y ago
  Spooky isn't it? I always wonder how they do it. I'm not on fecebook and all that, and they still find people I had completely forgotten about from completely out of context with sometime even zero electronic communication involved!
  - ucho 11y ago
    Not so spooky anymore: http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-settles-class-action-lawsuit-2015-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-settles-class-action...