Mediaboss Marketing

Fifteen years ago, we could hardly gauge the benefits of professional/social networking platforms, though the Internet and e-mail already existed. People's understanding and usage of technology and the Internet have evolved over the years. And although it looks like we have come a long way, the rate of development indicates that innovations in social networking are just getting started.

Present Scenario

Professional social networking is the order of the day, and nobody can defy its benefits any longer. We all know that the trend setters in this domain include LinkedIn Corporation ( LNKD ) and Facebook Inc. ( FB ). However, other companies like Ning are coming up fast and helping people socialize on the net.

Though online networking is at a nascent stage, these new players have realized the potential of this business and are coming up with innovative and customized solutions to grab a major share of the market.

"Netizens" have started understanding the dynamics of an online network, either professional or personal. Again, corporate and business houses are trying to make a foray into this business as they have realized that the end users are evolving every day and are increasingly adopting the social network sites.

Headhunters have been able to use the professional networking platform to look for suitable candidates for job openings. A case in point would be networking company XING's new collaboration with a career website Kariyer.net. The companies will be using special software that automatically matches job postings published at Kariyer.net with XING members irrespective of the fact that job searchers may be active or passive in their approach. This is attracting HR professionals as they are getting a readymade database of candidates.

Growth Potential

According to the latest available data from the Internet research site eMarketer.com, as of December 2011, more than 1.2 billion people worldwide used social/professional networking sites with a frequency of at least 1 hit per month. eMarketer.com expects 1.5 billion Internet users by the end of 2012.

The research suggests that although the segment witnessed the highest growth of 23.0% in 2011, the growth rate may be expected to moderate over the next few years. However, the growth rate is estimated to remain in the double digits.

Growth in the Internet networking business is expected to come largely from Facebook's expansion (although it is barred in China), which is expected to exceed the billion-user mark by the end of 2013.Facebook grew 44% in 2011, but the growth rate is projected to drop to 13.9% in 2014.

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Online Networking, Present & Future - Analyst Blog