NET - Linkedin vs openBC: a members game

I recently exchanged a few emails with Konstantin Guericke, one of Linkedin founders: we discussed the situation for openBC and Linkedin in Europe. I believe openBC is strong in Europe, especially in Germany and Austria. Linkedin is very strong worldwide. Konstantin shared new figures with me, and made a comment regarding the recent communication from openBC...

I thought it would be a good idea to better understand the current situation for those two excellent social/business networks!

Total number of members: advantage Linkedin
Please find below the growth from Linkedin and openBC (respectively May 2003 and November 2003)

Visible remarks
* Both networks have grown faster in the last 12 months
* Linkedin counts over 4 times the number of members than openBC
* Linkedin has more than 1million users compared to openBC which has 1.7million users globally

Methodology: I used the figures available on openBC (Press Releases & Press Review) and Linkedin (Press Releases & Media Coverage). Of course, social networks don't publish their number of members or subscribers on regular basis, so I had to calculate the average growth rate per month between one official announcement to the following one!

Now, let's have a closer look at 4 specific periods since 2003.

Since creation
Linkedin (May 2003) and openBC (November 2003)






Visible remarks
* Those figures are impressive for both networks
* Especially for Linkedin which managed to reach almost 8 millions members in less than 4 years
* Linkedin will almost achieve its target of 10 million members by the end of 2006: well done!
* I believe it is going to be tougher for openBC to reach its target of 10 million members by the end of 2007...

From creation to March 2006






Visible remarks
* I decided to use March 2006 as a milestone as Linkedin and openBC both published their figures at that time
* It marks the beginning of a faster pace of growth for both networks

Since March 2006






Visible remarks
* Outstanding growth for Linkedin: they add over 13,000 members every single day!
* Excellent rate for openBC too: they add almost 3,000 members every day (even though it has been slowed down compared to the period Dec 05 - February 06...)
* Please note the aggressive growth in Europe for Linkedin. Europe has been identified as a major market for growth. Konstantin is in Germany right now, and Linkedin will target countries like the UK or France in early 2007

Between December 2005 and February 2006






Visible remarks
* Excellent growth rate for openBC during that period: they even matched Linkedin's growth rate in Europe. Well done Lars (and your dynamic team), and keep up the good work!
* The growth rate for openBC in the last 6 months dropped-off though...

Conclusion
* Linkedin seems to be far ahead in terms of members both in Europe and worldwide
* And as an active user, I must insist on the fact that I am still impressed with the quality of the members on Linkedin
* The total number of members is a good indicator, but it would be useful to know the number of subscribers and the ARPU. The quality of the members and their profiles is also critical!
* We musn't forget that openBC and Linkedin have two different business models (I invite you to check my post named NET - Linkedin & openBC: no competition!) Indeed, openBC makes its technology available to other networks ("The platform" - white label service) and is quite successful in that space...

Making available some figures about specific countries in Europe? And subscribers?
I would love to compare the growth of openBC and Linkedin in Europe, in countries such as the UK, Germany or France: so openBC and Linkedin, I very much look forward to hearing from you!
____________________________________________________________________________________
Technorati: businessnetworking, socialnetworking, openbc, linkedin

Comments

[Fraser]

Very interesting statistics, thank you for breaking it down. I am constantly impressed by the success that both sites have enjoyed in such a short time span. They are great examples of the value inherent in viral marketing.

[Eric Mariacher]

I blogged also on this subject:
- Are French and German not interested in “social networking”? - at http://eric-mariacher.blogspot.com/2006/11/are-french-and-german-not-interested.html

[Pauline Dovergne]

Have a look at an article in UK press talking about one of their competitors: http://www.viadeo.com !

http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com/