On a high level, LinkedIn is a monopoly. There is no other employment-oriented platform, that also serves as a social network for professionals.
You’ll only find direct competitors in it’s individual product areas like sales intelligence, marketing, hiring, education etc.
There is one particular area that I find interesting – content.
Through content, LinkedIn enables you to “access knowledge, insights and opportunities.” And, obviously LinkedIn does a great job at it.
But you know who does even better?
The answer is Twitter, especially when it comes to insights and knowledge. Twitter quickly grew into a micro-blogging platform where people not only shared breaking news but also entertainment, sports and their everyday interests.
This is where LinkedIn falls back. While posting, content creators have to not only respect the context but also consider that it will be read by their future employers. So there’s always some pressure while curating.
Twitter comes with no such pressure. People can share their expertise in business, a picture of their pet, opinion on politics and other stuff – all in one place. They aren’t constrained.
Many intellectual people have chosen Twitter as their default platform over LinkedIn. I often see a great tweet on product/business strategy and wonder why I can’t find anything like that on LinkedIn – the place where it is supposed to be.
Content on LinkedIn is like having a Netflix subscription with only one genre of movies. It works for consumers who are an absolute fan of that specific genre.
But it’s also the reason why Twitter wins – because content creators don’t like boundaries. They want to be able to push their limits and flex their creativity.
Prashant Bagga 