LinkedIn has bolstered its position as America’s leading business social network by the month lately, with Germany-based Xing as the only company regarding itself a worthy competitor in the last few years. But now those days seem to be over – in the US and China, at least.
Today German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt published an interview [GER] with Xing CEO Stefan Groß-Selbeck (who recently replaced founder Lars Hinrichs), and he revealed a couple of interesting tidbits of information about the future direction of his company (find a horrible, Google-translated version of the full interview in English here).
Talking in broad strokes, Groß-Selbeck said 3.5 million of the 7.5 million Xing members are based out of Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. This isn’t really that surprising, given the background of the company. But the interview also marks the first time a Xing representative publicly (albeit indirectly) admitted losing in the USA and China.
Groß-Selbeck said he rather sees Xing’s future in those countries where the company has opened offices: Spain, Italy and the rapidly growing web market of Turkey. This statement was followed by him dodging a question about Xing’s previous plans to enter the US and China (he specifically responded that the focus lies on said countries and Xing plans to double its German user base in the next years). In other words, Xing seems to have stopped thinking about expanding into those regions for the time being.
My guess is LinkedIn never really feared the Germans entering their home market anyway, as a) almost no American really knows Xing, b) about half of LinkedIn’s 42 million members live in the US, c) coffers are filled to the rim and d) a $1 billion valuation is sure to let all key employees sleep soundly (Xing’s current market cap at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange: $220 million).
Google Trends shows that LinkedIn outclasses Xing in global traffic, too:
But Xing backing up in the US and China isn’t necessarily good news for LinkedIn. Their strategic decision won’t make it easier for LinkedIn to gain market share in said European countries where Xing already boasts a strong brand name and position. Here, LinkedIn is in for an uphill battle, which may take years to win (especially as Groß-Selbeck also said in the interview he intends to boost the number of employees from 240 to 360). And China has no shortage of business social networks either (Tianji, Wealink [CN] or Alibaba’s Ren Mai Tong to name just a few).
LinkedIn is currently available in four languages (English, Spanish, French and German), with more to come soon. The only office outside the US is located in London. In Europe, LinkedIn is particularly strong in Belgium, Holland, France, Great Britain and Denmark). Traffic in China is negligible for both LinkedIn and Xing.
Quick note:
German is my mother tongue, which means I didn’t have to rely on the Google translation linked to above when writing this posting.
Hi Serkan,
I think there’s a spelling error in this line – Xing already boasts a string brand name and position. I think you meant strong not string.
Thank you, amended.
we are watching you…
If not for the number of users, I would use Xing more. Linkedin is just a pile of crap in terms of usability and navigation.
Besides how many people check their linkedin account anyway? Once a month or every 2 weeks?
Personally I think Linkedin time is up. They are slowly becoming the next Friendster or Hi5.
Agreed. I check my LinkedIn once every few months.
Disagreed. I check my LinkedIn once every few hours.
It depends on the line of business you are in.
From my experiences, I would of thought that Xing would just explode completely in China as I have seen a numerous amount of chinese friends blogging on Xing and posting onto facebook giving Xing more traffic. I didn’t think LinkedIn was bigger than Xing in terms of traffic. This is because usually only higher class, professional people tend to use LinkedIn whereas anyone, anywhere, any language are able to use Xing…
Makes sense for Xing….good for them. Compete where you can, don’t spin your wheels where you cant.
I wish both of these could integrate somehow.
Think about people who have associates both in Germany and in the US.
I love XING. Features, speed and usability are excellent. Unfortunately, for business contacts outside of Germany, I still have to use LinkedIn, which, in comparison, is three or four years behind as far as interface design and features are concerned. But then, the larger user base counts…
You never know what the future holds in business relationships among social network acquisition candidates
LinkedIn should be worried about Facebook, not Xing. FB can deploy a set of biz features (and potentially, network import) and blow LI away
LinkedIn should be worried about Facebook, not Xing. FB can deploy a set of biz features (and potentially, network import) and blow LI away
Yes, that’s true. Facebook is growing exponentially.
If you live in Germany and have international connections you still need both networks.
LinkedIn is international and more upscale, Xing is for more main stream or like Outlook on steroids.
After linkedin started a German version lots of Xing-users added a LinkedIn-Account – so Xing has really to focus on Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the countries where they bought local social networks if they want to keep their story consistent for the stock market.
Facebook Connect and Google’s Open Social reduced the worth of having a users credentials, you don’t own a user any longer. So from my point of view it makes sense for Xing to concentrate on countries where this service is already a tradition, but after a while Linkedin will win this race – international rulez, not tradition.
i know people using both but not using facebook. facebook will never be a business networking app
Never say never…
Never mind Xing and Facebook, LinkedIn should be worried about Google Profiles. In spite of 40 million members, LinkedIn has managed to do little than be a directory of business people, and if folk start filling our their Google Profiles encouraged then much of the information you need to find people will be possible without ever going to LinkedIn. Neatly integrated into Google Wave you’ll have all the tools for networking and communicating with them too.
My big frustration with LinkedIn has always been that it offers no tools to broker valuable NEW business relationships, with people you don’t know but who have a need for what you do. This would be really useful and is also something Xing could do but hasn’t.
There’s definitely a market open to sites that can do this, as it’s also less dependent on seeing you old, existing contacts on those sites too.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
Forgive the typing, I hadn’t charged myself with enough tea before I picked up my keyboard!
Hehe, man merkt das deine Muttersprache Deutsch ist! Du hättest sonst nicht Holland, sondern Netherlands geschrieben
I really like XING, since they really got me in terms of usability and watching my business network and events I am interested in. Of course most Contacts who are not from Germany are not on XING, but on another network: facebook. LinkedIn might be still better for traditional businesses but for people in the online and media world facebook offers all they need in a much more convenient way.
From my point of view Xing is loosing innovation power and LinkedIn made a good step ahead by translating their interface into german.
Xing claims to invest in Xing Apps (like Twitter Buzz, what is mentioned in the german article), but simply copy LinkedIn apps (LinkedIn Company buzz is pretty much the same )
Even Xing’s app “Mitglieder fragen” (Members asking questions) is a copied version of LinkedIn’s Q&A feature.
LinkedIn seems to bring in more innovations at the moment, so Xing should pay attention in their homemarket.
I will bet all my money on Xing rather than LinkedIn. Lars Hinrichs has built a real business – a profitable company, which does not rely on outside VC funding. They have been cash-flow positive for a longtime.
Xing´s UI is more slick than LinkedIn. When it comes to usability, LinkedIn does not compare.
I don´t think that FB will ever be a competitor for LinkedIn or Xing. FB is definitely not for professional business networking. The average Joe Sixpack will opt to separate his business contacts from his private contacts.
FB is a private social networking service for private stuff – do you want your business partner to see your keg photos or the vulgar posts your friends write on your profile.?
actually http://www.renhe.cn is the most localization professional social network website.