Microsoft + LinkedIn = Massive Business
Some heads turned when Microsoft spent an eye-popping $26.2 Billion to purchase the Professional Social Media Site. But seriously consider the fact that Microsoft has always catered to the business/professional world with their various products and LinkedIn is the Premiere Professional Social Media Website. Unlike other social sites, you won’t find too many meme photos of cats using the bathroom. What you will find tends to be more professional posts that can and do provide valuable information for its dedicated 433,000,000 members and 2,000,000 paid subscribers.
It goes without saying that Social Media is where it’s at. On average people spend more time on various social media websites than they do watching TV. One study shows that people spend up to 6 hours per day watching TV versus spending 9 hours per day on social media. What makes it more interesting is that people tend to multitask by watching a show and visiting their favorite social sites on their smartphones or tablets.
Why didn’t Microsoft just build their own Social Site?
With so many social websites out there, it is extremely difficult to compete for people’s fleeting time. The flags have already been planted and people have already made commitments to their favored social networks. Most people don’t want to start over by building a profile and making connections on a new site. This is particularly true of the business community. Unlike teens who may be leaving facebook for Instagram, WhatsApp or SnapChat so they can get away from the more mature crowd (Facebook owns both Instagram & WhatsApp), Professionals tend to want to focus on what’s tried and true.
Bussiness Opportunities
Microsoft has various offerings that it can tightly integrate with LinkedIn, such as Microsoft 365, Skype, Windows, and it’s own Virtual Assistant Cortana. LinkedIn has valuable assets as well including Lynda.com which is an online professional education training for things like web development, photography and more. They also own Slideshare which is another way to discover, share and present useful information.
It’s all about the DATA
With this purchase, Microsoft will now have even deeper insight into the group of people that it is focused on servicing. By integrating the various systems they will be able to effectively streamline the whole professional experience.
Advertising
LinkedIn is also one of the main places Digital Marketers spend their online advertising money. Considering the fact that Microsoft already serves over 1.2 Billion users with their services, they will help to scale LinkedIn and potentially grow their user base which will increase LinkedIn’s active users and that means more ad dollars.
What does this mean for You?
It means deeper integration of some of the tools you may already be using. Most professionals already use some of the products offered by Microsoft and LinkedIn. Now with the companies coming together, I’m crossing my fingers, hoping that we can potentially save money on some form of Premium Offering which combines all their united services. Maybe the impact will be less tangible. Only time will tell.
I’m hoping for a seamless integration of the various services with some form of subscription savings since I use a lot of the services both companies provide.