This post was written by Jody Jonnson
LinkedIn’s current incarnation of InApps does not seem to help it truly compete with Facebook user engagement and third party developer participation. OpenSocial developers who created applications for InApps did not innovate based on LinkedIn’s core strengths relative to Facebook, and LinkedIn itself seems hesitant to truly follow Facebook’s lead based on potential conflicts between InApps and its established business model. Current applications don’t leverage LinkedIn members’ ability to discover people based on three degrees of separation and to forge relationships via LinkedIn’s industry leading tools.
AdaptiveBlue has announced the launch of its new social networking web browser plug-in. The Glue plug-in works by showing users visiting a particular website what their friends looked at on the same site and any comments they had on specific item. Websites such as Amazon, Last.fm, Netflix, Yahoo! Finance, Wine.com and Citysearch are supported by the plug-in. Glue remembers the last 20 items browsed and allows users to click on a ‘Like’ button to show that they favour a particular product, as well as add comments in the ‘2Cents’ box.
The battle to provide social networking in the enterprise is under way between solutions from established software vendors and readily available offerings such as Facebook and LinkedIn, with these sites possessing a lot of momentum, an industry insider stressed during a conference on July 11. Antony Brydon, former CEO and founder of Visible Path said, “I think we’re in a market that could end up looking a lot like the IM market, where consumer products like AOL IM gained dominance in the enterprise.” He added he did not take it for granted that companies such as Microsoft would dominate the business social networking space.