Social Networks: Males vs Females
Study shows that on non-geek social networks, females represent the majority. You could argue that this is according to the world population ratio, but I’m not sure that would be correct.
On the other hand, on ‘geeky’ social networks/sites the audience is predominantly males. Communication (females) vs geekness (males)?
LinkedIn: Platforms, APIs and Openness
LinkedIn has firstly mentioned a platform API a few years ago, but until now access to it has been granted only to partners (remember those 8 applications that you could install on your LinkedIn profile). I assume they have realized that this “closed” API will not bring a lot of applications and that APIs are meant to be open to be both useful and used.
While I cannot find the references right now, I do remember reading about other companies trying to create a business by monetizing their APIs (nb I’m pretty sure though that I read about them on Fred Wilson’s blog) and not getting it to work as they expected. It was only after they have flipped the model and started to pay companies to use the API (or platform) that the adoption took off and they have started to benefit.
There are other signs that LinkedIn have realized the power of open: ☞ a partnership with Twitter (see video down the page), the ☞ Outlook integration, etc.
An interesting topic to be analyzed would be: what are the possible benefits of opening up a platform? (besides the publicity and good kharma).
References
- ☞ The LinkedIn API Opportunity
- ☞ LinkedIn Platform: Open for Business
- ☞ LinkedIn API Platform Goes Live: Your Resume and Business Network Now Have an API
- ☞ An Ecosystem Is Born: LinkedIn Opens Up API
- ☞ Five Ways Startups Are Tapping Into LinkedIn’s API
