The Funding Stages for a Startup

Infographic on ‘How StartUp Funding Works’. See the original and explanatory blog post here.

 

Image via fundersandfounders.com

Good or Bad? 1 Billion+ LinkedIn Endorsements

Why LinkedIn Endorsements are a good idea, gone bad. 

  

A few months ago, LinkedIn celebrated 1 billion endorsements by releasing an infographic (see below). Considering the passage of time and the increasing velocity of endorsement giving, this number may be over 3 billion by now.

On the face of it, LinkedIn Endorsements seemed to be a good idea. Users can endorse specific skills of others, thereby helping potential employers to more easily shortlist candidates (the ‘placement’ market is after all, the main revenue stream for LinkedIn). Users will also benefit from ‘social recognition‘ of their skills and capabilities.

However, all is not well in wonderland. The manner in which the Endorsement system has been implemented is resulting in several, hopefully unforeseen, problems. Three main issues are:

1. Personal Brand Dilution:

A user does not necessarily have control over what skills are being endorsed by others. Thus a skill which one does not wish to emphasize might get ‘suggested’ by LinkedIn for endorsement by others, while the skills a user has selected as part of his/her ‘online brand’ are not always visible. While a one can opt not to display a particular endorsement, the overall result is either a wasted endorsement or dilution of the personal brand.

2. Endorsement Value Dilution:

As per the current implementation, anyone can endorse any skill for any connections on LinkedIn. As a result, one may get endorsed for a particular skill by someone who is not is a position to make a genuine evaluation of the skill. For example, a Scientist’s mathematical skills can be endorsed by his/her basketball teammate – not exactly someone who maybe in a position to make such a judgement.  Alternatively, one might get endorsed for a skill that one does not possess [In jest, I've received an endorsement for Quidditch! Unfortunately, I cannot tell a Quaffle from a Bludger]. When combined with the fact that there is no way to verify endorsements, this results in the value of a LinkedIn endorsement being zilch.

3. Unusable LinkedIn Stream:

There was a time when one could view the LinkedIn activity stream and garner the major happenings in one’s professional network. Who changed jobs, who got promoted, who started something new. Now, the stream is largely unreadable, with the majority of updates simply stating that X got endorsed by Y for a skill Z.  Which has made the LinkedIn Activity Stream unusable.

1 Billion Endorsements Given on LinkedIn

Samsung v. Apple

This infographic by MBAOnline.com highlights how Samsung is catching up with Apple in the numbers game and exceeds Apple in everything, except the thing that matters – profits. A key point is that Samsung’s R&D spending is 3 times that of Apple. Implications are long term …

 

via MBAOnline.com

Examples of Social Media Blunders [Infographic]

This infographic, by MDGadvertising, highlights several social media blunders by major celebrities and businesses.

Image via MDGadvertising

See the original image here.

Tablet Adoption & Uses [Infographic]

This infographic, by onlineclasses.org, provides a glimpse into the high adoption rate witnessed by the tablet form factor, and its typical uses, and the potential for tablets in schools.

• Rate of tablet adoption is faster than what was witnessed by PCs and mobile phones.
• Sales are expected to surge, and overtake PC sales by 2016

Image via OnlineClasses.Org

State of the Social Network War

Facebook might be the biggest social network, but LinkedIn is clearly the stock market’s darling. 

 

While Facebook has been in the news recently for its dropping share price (which perhaps is not a fair reflection of future possibilities as I write in this earlier post), LinkedIn has been quietly going about its job. It has been announcing a slew of features. These include  new company pages, notifications, new mobile features, and Outlook integration.

 

Launching today is our new notifications feature, which will keep you notified in real-time when someone likes what you’ve shared on LinkedIn, views your profile, accepts your invitation, and much more.

 

 

 

 

On iPhone and Android:

• Get notified: We will keep you notified in real-time when someone likes what you’ve shared on LinkedIn, views your profile, accepts your invitation, and much more.
• Company pages goes mobile: Find out which connections work at the companies you care about, see recent news and updates from the company, and learn about current job openings.
• Don’t want your employer to know you’re looking?: We’ve recently added access tojob listings and jobs you may be interested in directly within your mobile update stream.

 

 

Clearly, LinkedIn is doing better on the mobile platform (23% of LinkedIn users use its mobile apps) and on its ability to monetize its user base (for now). This is reflected in the rising share price – this wonderful chart by statista.com clearly shows that LinkedIn is thriving, while Facebook crashes (see the original chart here).

 

Image via Statista.com

 

And what about Google+? Well, this comic by xkcd says it all.

 

Image via xkcd

The Social Impact of Social Media (Infographic)

Twitter and Facebook are blamed for being the catalysts of recent (good and bad) events –  cue the happenings in Egypt and the recent tidings from India. Whatever be the impact,  social media has become a major means by which the voices of people are heard, and primary means to news (which at times is spread faster) for many. This infographic, at open-site.org, nicely captures the social impacts of social media, or the power of the internet community.

 

Image via Open-Site.Org

See the original infographic here.

Is it really doomsday for Facebook?

Several issues are depressing Facebook’s stock price, but there seems an upside that the market is not tuned in to.

 

Facebook’s plummeting market value has been a major talking point of late. Its share price recently fell to below half of its IPO level and the doomsday forecasts are arriving thick and fast. Most analysts suggest that this is due to a combination of factors – expiry of a moratorium means that insiders are flooding the market with stock; Facebook is barely meeting its revenue and profit guidance numbers; and, the market is adjusting to the ‘real value’ due to reduced future expectations .

 

This article, on TechCrunch, presents three reasons why the future is bleak for Facebook –

Decelerating growth in users, unfavorable change in user mix, and a question mark in ARPU. In the short term, Facebook is certain to grow, but the question of Inferno vs. Paradiso will take quite some time to sort out.

This infographic by statista illustrates the market saturation and user mix problems faced by Facebook:

 

Image via Statista

 

Facebook’s major user growth in the coming years will occur in developing markets – where average revenues per user are traditionally much lower as compared to developed markets. Another major trend is the the movement of users to mobile platforms.

This second infographic by statista makes this more clear:

 

Image via Statista

 

It seems clear that Facebook’s future (or at least future stock price) is dependent upon its ability to monetize its mobile and developing world users. Or is it?

 

A bigger upside depends upon Facebook’s ability to make itself a platform for commerce and creativity. If Facebook can set rules that protect the privacy and security of its billion plus engaged users, while providing an environment within which application developers and entrepreneurs can offer Social network driven, Mobile based, Location triggered services, it can potentially earn billions in revenues through commissions alone. A scene illustrating this viable future is:

 

You are deciding where to get lunch. You launch the FB app, and use the smartphone camera to view a restaurant. The image is augmented by a bubble which states that 78 of your FB friends have recently been to the place, 80% of whom rate it 4+ out of 5. The app also says that if you eat there today, you will get 10% off your bill in the form of FB credits.

 

How does Facebook make real money in the scenario? By taking a cut on the sales of FB credits (for example, $1 = 1 FB Credit, but you can buy 10 credits from Facebook for $11 and sell 10 credits back for just $9).

 

However, these are big IFs and THENs.

World’s Largest Retailer: Apple

Apple recently became the world’s most valuable company – EVER. The below infographic by statista showcases exactly how much larger Apple’s market cap is when compared to other largest companies, media companies, and tech companies. But then, as the following infographic by onlinemba illustrates, perhaps one should not compare Apple with other ‘pure play’ technology companies. After all, not many tech firms  have nearly 70% of their workforce spread across 400 retail locations, which attracted 85 million footfalls (and thus potential customers) in Q1 2012!

 

Image via Statista

You will find more statistics at Statista.

Image via OnlineMBA.com

See the original Statista infographic on Apple’s market cap here. See the original OnlineMBA inforgraphic on Apple’s in-store retail here.

3D Printing Explained

This excellent infographic, by HighTable, provides a nice snapshot of 3D printing. It explains what is 3D printing, the growth of this yet nascent industry, a few select uses of this technology.

Image by HighTable

See the original here.