Reid: One of the challenges for LinkedIn is because it is information rich apps. We currently have a profile which is very thick. The kinds of things you search for - you search for – who do I know who works at eBay. Or, who is an expert on open source or is there someone around me who is doing an interesting startup or something like that. So these tend to have information rich applications.
Now we are interested in mobile because of a bunch of different users. We have an iPhone app that we just launched. We are generally working on more high-end phones because ones where typing in text and being able to look at the search result are the things that matter. And in those phones, we have actually viable interfaces. We go to m.linkedin.com, there is interesting stuff there. There is an iPhone app. We will deepen this because for example- who do I know who is at this conference? Or, who should I meet at this conference? These kinds of things are the kind of things that LinkedIn will build out its functionality for. We are quite aware that many people, not just India but India especially, have their computer as a principal electronic device to the web and so we need to make sure that we iterate our services to be good to those interfaces.
Kamla: What is your definition of social network?
Reid: Social network is a set of real people who the network connections online mirror what is in truth. So for example, Bob is really friends with Cindy or Fred really knows Joe or Michelle really knows Sarah. And on the social side of it, these are my friends and these are people the people I’m connected to, etc.
On the professional side, these are people I know and trust enough and I’ve worked with them. And on a case by case basis, I would introduce them to other people.
Kamla: And what values are you trying to create through your social network?
Reid: In the professional space especially, people can help each other a lot. With a little bit energy from me, I can be massively beneficial to one of the people I am connected to. So it’s not just me but that is everybody. So for example, if I write an introduction to an interesting new opportunity, the ability to provide information on a challenge or task we are trying to solve. So LinkedIn is trying to make it so that it is much easier. It is to have all the benefits of a network without really networking where it’s much easier to collaborate with people that you have established a trust relationship with.
So take for example, all the way down to the young folks, its like – well one of the things is like the professors or one of the recently graduate classes- let us say you are a senior in college and some of your senior friends just graduated into the workforce and you are connected with them on LinkedIn. Well that connection can help you get into the workforce, identify who are the interesting people to talk to and what are the interesting opportunities and that sort of a thing. And those are the kinds of value propositions that LinkedIn tries to ride.
We don’t do social; we don’t do “where’re you partying on Friday night” or “which restaurant to eat at”. We do “what matters for your career and what matters for solving your professional tasks”.
Kamla: So you have this theory of ”small good”?