Microsoft sees integration opportunities in LinkedIn purchase – but will users care?
In this cross-post from The Conversation, David Glance discusses what Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn will mean for users.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has explained the rationale behind the tech company’s plans to buy LinkedIn for US$26.2 billion.
In a letter to staff, Nadella said he believes that access to LinkedIn customers will benefit the sales of Microsoft products and in exchange, LinkedIn’s growth would be “accelerated”.
LinkedIn could do with some help in this regard. Despite healthy growth in revenue, LinkedIn has lost money over the last two financial years and with an overall strategy that was failing to impress Wall Street analysts.
Nadella somehow sees LinkedIn integration with Office 365 and its customer relationship management software, Dynamics. Its previous foray into buying a corporate focused social network Yammer for US$1.2 billion has been unspectacular. Despite declarations that Yammer would continue independently, Yammer has been integrated into Office 365 and has become freely available to all Office 365 users.
Whilst this gives Microsoft access to data from a group of presumably higher-net worth individuals, I find it difficult to see how these individuals will accept a targeted marketing process similar to facebook’s. If it is true that only a quarter of linkedin users use it more than once a month, and if it really is only a tool for getting a(nother) job, then those ‘regular’ users are probably not really in a position to splash around their discretionary cash anyway.
I was so close to cutting the cord with LinkedIn thanks to it promoting the idea that every moron’s opinion is worth publishing… thanks Microsoft, this is just the push I need!