There’s been a lot of discussion about the new “chocolate and peanut butter” pact that enables cross-posting between Twitter and LinkedIn. My reading of LinkedIn’s description of the new functionality is that people will have the option to selectively cross-post tweets to their status update.

I offered my thoughts here, here, and here, so I won’t stay more on this now. But there is a bigger question: What’s LinkedIn doing?

The new Twitter-LinkedIn arrangement has Twitter’s fingerprints all over it (extending to LinkedIn a service that’s already available to Facebook and MySpace users). LinkedIn hasn’t even tried to explain how this might be of use to its users–just how to use it.

LinkedIn is six years old, and the site looks it. You can’t even customize a font right now. Rather than focusing on add-on features, the company would do well to look at its core usability and the customer experience. Sure, they don’t have a lot of competition right now–but would you want to bet your business on the market environment maintaining the status quo?

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

During AdWeekDC, the LinkedIn/Facebook/MySpace panel not only gave their definitions of social media, they also talked about how the McCain and Obama campaigns are using social networking.

All three panelists agreed that having an online presence is critical to being a part of the conversation:

• Dale Durrett, LinkedIn, said the candidates are using the site’s polling product to ask about energy policy and other key topics. They’re also using the Q&A feature (1,500 people answered Obama’s first question about economic competitiveness), plus targeted advertising.
• Tim Kendall, Facebook, said his site enables the campaigns to microtarget, such as advertising to everyone betweeen 18-25 living in Boston or to all Facebook members in a specific congressional district or county.
• Jason Oberfest, MySpace, said his site has created a standalone property, MyDebates.org, that links to each candidate’s MySpace page and offers members an opportunity to share their opinions and get up-to-date on the issues.

In the end, social networking is just a tool — and hopefully not the only one in the candidates’ toolbox or yours. As LinkedIn’s Durrett put it, “People need to understand the people aspect, and how they identify with social media. Once you understand who the people are, the next step is the technology.”

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

What is social media? It’s a simple question, and it’s been the source of much discussion of late in the blogosphere. It was also the first question posed this morning to a trio of folks representing MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook at an Advertising Week DC session on Social Networking: Come a Little Closer.

• Jason Oberfest, MySpace, said social media is “about connecting people.” He defined MySpace’s three pillars: 1) members’ self-expression; 2) enabling the discovery of media assets; and 3) enabling people to meet other people with similar interests.
• Tim Kendall, Facebook, called “the social Web the next great platform” after 1) business productivity on the PC; 2) the Internet; and 3) search.
• Dale Durrett, LinkedIn, defined social media as “people using technology to get information and assets from each other (instead of from companies and institutions). He defined LinkedIn’s role as providing business professionals with the ability to be more productive day-to-day by enabling them to reach out quickly and find needed expertise.

Next post I’ll write about the panel’s thoughts on using social media effectively.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.