The problem with LinkedIn is that they have multiple, conflicting business models each of which are too successful to kill outright. 1. They have an advertisin

The problem with LinkedIn is that they have multiple, conflicting business models each of which are too successful to kill outright. 1. They have an advertising business, that sells to marketers. 2. They have a recruiting business, which sells to recruiters. 3. They have a individual (networking) business, which sells to individuals. 4. They have a sales business, which sells to sales people. While they all have a core basic similarity (use a rich database of professional people), when it comes to monetization of this core platform, there are little conflicts that add up over time. For example, for #2, they should make it as easy and free and valuable for people to join and update their profile. But then that conflicts with #3 a little bit, because a valuable feature is looking at other people's full profiles -- but that means you can't charge for individual subscriptions. And so forth.