AUTHOR: Russell TITLE: Growing a Backbone DATE: 9:49 AM ----- BODY:
I just downloaded the new LinkedIn Outlook Connector that brings my “LinkedIn Professional Network tight within my Microsoft Outlook Inbox.”

That may not seem like a hugely significant development, but as I have noted many times previously, I think LinkedIn is slowly (and perhaps not even consciously) starting to become a global business backbone directory.

Okay, you’re probably wondering right now what I mean by “backbone directory.” I’ll admit I am not entirely sure myself, even though I know I am right! What I increasingly see is LinkedIn playing a supporting, background role within a growing number of directory products. Typically, those directories let you easily connect a person listed in their directories to your professional network on LinkedIn. It’s an easy way to see how you might be connected to somebody, which is wonderful for salespeople. It also lets you readily peruse an individual’s LinkedIn profile, more times than not a current and detailed resume and an indicator of who they are based on who they know.

Where I see particular opportunities for LinkedIn is in professional services buying guides. What better way to pre-screen a prospective lawyer, accountant or financial advisor than by quickly determining who you might know in common so that you can get a trusted opinion?

But back to my Microsoft Outlook inbox. After installing the LinkedIn connector (you must also install the Outlook Social Connector from Microsoft), I got a glimpse of what the future might hold. When you view an email from someone with whom you are connected in LinkedIn, you see their LinkedIn photo right along the message. There is also a new window that almost instantly organizes all your emails to and from that person along with your prior meetings with that person. You can also quickly isolate email attachments received from that person, making it easy to review documents that person had sent to you. In short, my email inbox has become an entry-level CRM system. I also have easy access to the email addresses of everyone in my LinkedIn network each time I send an email.

Actually, the information being pulled from LinkedIn right now is pretty limited. But start thinking out a bit. There’s no reason I couldn’t filter and prioritize my emails based on whether or not the email sender was in my LinkedIn network. Indeed, what if LinkedIn was to supply me with information on anyone who was in LinkedIn, whether or not the person was in my network? Imagine seeing a photo, company name and title, and information on who you know in common on more, if not most, of your incoming emails? There’s information value, to be sure, but there’s also a “trusted sender” play here. Yes, LinkedIn could be used to validate the integrity if not the identity of email senders. You might even someday filter out email from anyone without a LinkedIn record. Push this out a bit further, and you can see a day where you need a LinkedIn record just to be in business. At that point, LinkedIn’s position as a “backbone directory” is secure, and the revenue opportunities are many and huge.

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----- -------- AUTHOR: Russell TITLE: Social Networking Friday DATE: 12:49 PM ----- BODY:
A number of blogs are reporting that on Monday, Plaxo, a company best known for its revolutionary service that synchronizes and updates user contacts lists, will apparently transform itself into a social networking company, under the brand name "Pulse." It seems that Plaxo has decided that it likes the Facebook business model more than its own.

I like Plaxo, an InfoCommerce Model of Excellence award winner way back in 2004. Its business of synchronizing contacts among user databases information is brilliant, and its technology is breathtaking. That's why I am disappointed to hear that Plaxo may be trying to move in a whole new direction. My free advice to Plaxo: before re-inventing yourself, focus your creativity on building out more applications based on your remarkable technology, and oh yes, stop giving away so much value for free.

And what of Facebook, the social networking site formerly the province of college students, but now open to the rest of us? Industry pundits are now whispering (loudly) that Facebook is poised to give Linked-In a run for the money since it is now re- defining itself as a communications platform on which third parties can build and extend Facebook capabilities. All this massive expansion comes with the risk that Facebook will lose its identity as the addition of users like me likely drives its coolness factor to zero among the college students who fueled its rise. Further, I am willing to make a small bet that Facebook's cavalier attitude towards data privacy is going to explode loudly in its face in the near future.

And what about Linked-In, another 2004 InfoCommerce Model of Excellence award winner? I am not sure that Linked-In's original premise, building on the "six degrees of separation" notion to foster professional contacts, played out in reality as well as it did in theory. At the same time, the company has been nimble and creative in finding ways to monetize what to my eyes is one of the single greatest treasure troves of data on business professionals. Importantly, Linked-In understands the information value in implicit and explicit connections as its users voluntarily indicate their connections to others. I think it's also telling that Linked-In seemingly is doing so well selling access to its data in various ways. There's something about proprietary content!

Bottom line: Plaxo is getting off the turnpike at the wrong exist; Facebook needs to do a lot of growing up before it becomes a real tool for grown-ups, and Linked-In seems to offer confirmation once again that content is still king.

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